An international history of the Brazilian-Argentine rapprochement

Abstract

The establishment of political channels that allowed long-standing rivals Brazil and Argentina to pursue co-operation in the nuclear realm is commonly attributed to the work of civilian Presidents Jose Sarney and Raul Alfonsin as well as to the re-establishment of democratic regimes in both countries in the 1980s. Nevertheless, archival research, recently declassified documents, and oral-history interviews confirm the hypothesis that these efforts actually date back to the 1960s. The initiative gained momentum in the 1970s with the settlement of the Itaipu-Corpus dispute over common freshwater resources and joint opposition to the United States' non-proliferation policy. This article addresses the process which led to the establishment of stable forms of co-operation between Brazil and Argentina in the nuclear realm. It explores four different strategies adopted by each country in order to obtain access to nuclear technology and exert regional leadership: alignment with the United States (thereby relinquishing nuclear autonomy); establishment of strategic partnerships with alternative Western powers; development of indigenous technology through secret programmes; and bilateral co-operation at the regional level. The international context, domestic factors, and personal attitudes are taken into account with the aim of providing a comprehensive analysis of co-operation and trust-building processes in a non-Western setting.