Abstract (eng)
This thesis tries to show and analyse the relations between the Federative Republic of Brazil and the Portuguese Republic in the context of the European Latin-America Policy. Regarding the methods, I used qualitative archival analysis, guideline-based expert interviews and quantitative data analysis. The main focus is clearly on qualitative methods. Historical reconstruction research as well as policy-analysis are the theoretical background of this research.
What follows the theoretical and methodological part is the main body which is divided in chapters three to five.Chapter three gives an overview of historical dimension of the Portuguese-Brazilian relations. What has to be highlighted is that the so called “discovery” of Brazil by the Portuguese as well as the exile of the Portuguese court at Rio de Janeiro are the key-moments concerning the relations between these two countries and that they are still of great importance today.
Chapter four targets the European Latin-America Policy which, on the one hand, embeds Portugal in the European context and, on the other, Brazil in the Latin American context. Furthermore different Latin American integration associations are discussed and analysed regarding their political and economic relevance. In this chapter it should be mentioned first and foremost which strategies exist on a European Level concerning the cooperation with Latin America and that Brazil plays a special role in Latin America.
Chapter five tackles the actual relations between Brazil and Portugal in the 21st century and divides itself in two parts. The first part shows how the relations function on a bilateral level and in supranational organisations, and tries to point out if there is a tendency towards one of these two directions. The second part, according to policy-analysis, highlights and analyses several policies which seem of special importance for the Portuguese-Brazilian relations.
The conclusion finally sums up the core findings of the thesis and gives a compressed overview of the most important outcomes. Furthermore this last part gives a short forecast on the possible future development of the relations between the Federative Republic of Brazil and the Portuguese Republic.