ABSTRACT

Progress toward developed, major power status ultimately depends on Brazil's own continuing domestic and international growth, although developments in the international system and in key diplomatic relationships with other states also set limits on growth and upward mobility. The traditional ocean order includes "freedom of the seas" and liner conferences, which have appeared as examples of "freezing of power" from the perspective of an aspirant power such as Brazil. The United States is Brazil's largest single trading partner and foreign investor and trade and investment between Brazil and the United States have been growing in absolute terms, but at a slower rate than that of Japan and Western Europe. The international economy has been relatively congenial to Brazil's gradual emergence as a developed state, although there have been increasing difficulties in sustaining growth since the 1973-1974 oil crisis. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.