The development of Brazilian ocean policy in the last half of the XXth century

• Main Author: Goncalves, Paulo Rogerio
• Published: London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London) 1999
• Subjects: 333.91009810916309045
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.399305

This Thesis examines the factors that have helped to shape Brazilian ocean policy over the last half century emphasising changes in political thought, the driving forces behind the globalisation of an ocean regime, national security concerns, strategic relationships, resources and geopolitics. It focuses on the changes that enticed Brazil to revise its ocean policy, and when and how traditional limitations still impact on the exercise of the country's attitudes on ocean affairs. Attention is centred on how Brazil has utilised the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 111) and other international conferences to pursue national interests, and how its experience there has affected its domestic ocean policy. Policy considerations which underlie the development of the country's positions in external negotiations on the law of the sea include those relating to a hard-line unilateral territorialist policy narrowly connected with security (in its traditional terms), which dovetailed with an increasingly acceptance of an international ocean regime. Related to these there is an appraisal of Brazil's positions on coastal States' rights over the 200-mile zone with particular emphasis in the significant trends across time and space. As Brazil seeks to redefine its role in the post-Cold-War era a combination of new and old elements are again determining the future roles and character of its ocean policy and its approach to the South Atlantic as a whole. Factors contributing to this reorientation, and thus to the continuing evolution of the country's ocean policy, are discussed. Findings are used to suggest that the same combination of elements, in different proportions and at different pace is continuously provoking a dramatic change in collective values that may result in changes in contextual and situational factors. National and international arenas are increasingly interwoven, setting a complex framework for current national ocean policy-making.