This article discusses the role of nationalism in internal disputes in the Armed Forces that occurred during the years 1964-1979, which period corresponds to the first fifteen years of the Military Regime in Brazil. Over the course of the period that we are studying, issues related to the economic development and foreign policy of the country polarized the debates and conflicts within the realm of the uniformed class, resulting in significant transformations in the strategies implemented by the State with a view toward building a "Great Power." To evaluate the importance of the nationalistic component in the political culture of the military, it was necessary to gather and link the antecedents that gave rise to the convictions and devisions existing in the armed institutions when the 1964 Movement emerged. Next, the military groups that came to compete for the control of the State apparatus are described, examining how the greater influence of one of the other impacted on the decision-making process related to the following issues: nuclear program, arms industry, nationalization of the economy, foreign capital, sensitive technologies, colonization of the Amazon, relations between Brazil and the US, international accords, multilateral forums and foreign trade policy. In discussing this point, special emphasis is given to the pronouncements and declarations made by the officials who were the key players during this period, as the justifications presented by them make it possible to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the measures that were adopted and the nationalism that permeated the political culture predominant in the Armed Forces.
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This text analyzes the positive impact of force design methodology on Brazilian Navy planning process. It presents the lack of force design as the current major weakness of the Brazilian national defense. It centers its analysis in the Brazilian Navy, considering its loss of effectiveness and the probable decrease in budgetary resources in the near future. It also defines the so-called force design environment, which is marked by legality, legitimacy and transparency, and identifies force design as an essential tool for national defense budgetary planning, relating its non-existence to a low rate of efficacy and efficiency in public resources management. The text relates force design to the issue of interoperability and confirms that force design is of paramount importance to provide a link between political decisions and execution in the area of national defense. In conclusion, it confirms that implementing force design methodology deserves a high priority in the Brazilian national defense policy.
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This paper covers a part of the post-doctoral research conducted by the author at UNESP-Franca in 2005. It is an analytical comparison between the military-naval education models developed in Brazil and Argentina within the context of the post-authoritarian regimes that are current nowadays. Also, two main aspects regarding professional training in both countries is dealt with within the context of any regional cooperation agreements and the Mercosur.
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This article deals with the significant role technological innovations play in the strengthening of Brazil's military capabilities, based on the qualitative nature of modern warfare, and any security issues that the nation faces in early 21st Century. Thus, it reviews the phenomenon that many authors call the RAM (Revolution in Military Affairs) of the nineties, resulting from the IT process of the combat means. But any political implications are more relevant than any mere operational issues of this RAM, to the extent that it provides a cost reduction for the nations that are at the forefront of the interventionism as an instrument of international action. However, it has also generated vulnerabilities, and improved the involvement of non-governmental protagonists in armed conflicts. Based on these verifications, the article seeks to show the consequences of this new geo-strategic scheme for Brazil and, using any plausible threats for the country as criteria, it intends to discriminate any items of the present RAM that need to be incorporated into the Armed Forces structure, based on the premise that any economic reactivation of the national warfare industry is a required condition to channel any significant investment to P&D military efforts. Thus, the article seeks to find out which are the variables that interfere with the problem to design a strategy to facilitate, with any limited resources available, an adequate solution to sort any hurdles for streamlining the Armed Forces.
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The purpose of this article is to study the threat perception process from a theoretical point of view. Using a philosophy-based, preparatory approach that provides the means for subsequent discussion, we will study the phenomenon of threat perception, prioritizing the data on the decision process formulated by political science and international relations. In this setting, threats can be perceived in different ways by the State bureaucracy because there are various factors influencing the process, including people's education, constitutional and legal systems, bureaucratic clashes and the quantity and quality of information. Consequently, the purpose of this article is to analyze the subject of threats from the classical perspective of national defense studies, but including in the debate contributions from economic and environmental studies related to the subject of international security, seeking conclusions about how much they favor the formation of defense policy and regional cooperation.
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Historically, Brazil's legislature has displayed outright disdain in addressing issues relating to national defense. The prerogatives that the new (1988) Constitution confers upon this important segment of the political system have not been fully utilized. The purpose of the present work is to establish how the Brazilian legislative process functions in the post-authoritarianism period within the broad field of security and defense. It compares the impacts of the recent establishment of the Ministry of Defense in Brazil (1999) and of the events of September 11, 2001, in order to analyze issues related to security and defense in our nation. It especially considers Parliament because, as a pluralist and representative entity, we believe that it functions as a synthesis of the nation with respect to society's attention to the topics of security and defense and to its armed forces. In the early 21st century, as we will stress throughout the article, there appear to exist new elements aimed at the social and institutional appreciation of this important field in Brazil, which could result in the maturation and intensification of our young democracy.
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This paper intends to provide an understanding of the Brazilian involvement in the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). To that end, it discusses and reviews, based on public information sources, the Brazilian decision to approve, participate and lead the MINUSTAH task force; describes the political path actually followed for achieving an effective decision-making implementation, emphasizing some controversial issues that were submitted to the National Congress for consideration; and some of the mission’s internal goals are also discussed, with emphasis on certain controversial issues. Some of the conclusions are not in tune with what is usually believed and interpreted in Brazil by the general public: for instance, an existing link, as far as MINUSTAH is concerned, between the more visible Brazilian political goals and any other long-term economic goals; the likelihood of the Brazilian decision altering the country's foreign policy nature, and therefore, facing more resistance in the National Congress for any government decisions; and having a Group of Marines (Fuzileiros Navais) attached to an Army Commander is also identified as a significant innovation in Brazilian military operations.
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The text summarizes the review of research on education in the Brazilian Navy, focusing on the Course on Maritime Policy and Strategies (C-PEM). Some of the key arguments regarding the current world military profession and education are introduced as well as their effects on the Brazilian situation. Finally, some considerations are presented on the current organization of the course, within the context of changes in homeland defense, highlighting some political-educational aspects of the relationship with Brazilian society.
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This paper reviews the relationship between Defense and the federal public budget, with the objective of checking compliance with formally stated goals. In spite of its relevance, the Brazilian public budget gives more emphasis to financial information, to the detriment of operational or strategic information. Nevertheless, the public budget does allow the observation of certain occurrences. Defense and supply are disconnected, the latter characterized as an expense element. Defense-related programs were not regarded as strategic in the multi-annual plan, in force in 2001. Moreover, in the corresponding multi-annual plan there is an apparent overlap between the activities of each branch of service, and there is no special reference to defense-related diplomatic activities or intelligence. There is also some evidence of rescheduling of the 2001 budget elements, while maintaining values within additional limitations. The most serious discrepancy is in the lack of association between diplomatic relations and the national defense function, without any evidence of budget values in the attached detailed report, despite policy and legal direction. These issues point out subjects that should be given more attention by national planning and control in Brazil.
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