Brazilian foreign policy, the coalitions of power and UNASUR: rise and deconstruction of South America as a geopolitical bloc/A politica externa brasileira, as coalizoes de poder e a Unasul: ascensao e desconstrucao da America do Sul como bloco geopolitico

The cycle of progressive governments in Brazil, which begun with Lula's election in 2002 and ended with the overthrow of Dilma Rousseff in 2016, was responsible for an autonomous foreign policy that sought to reposition the country and South America in the international system. The Workers Party's (PT) governments led a heterogeneous productivist coalition made up of fractions of the industrial bourgeoisie and sectors of the working classes. Lula played an important role in the creation of Unasur, which is the political dimension of South American regionalism. The rupture of the democratic order brought to power a conservative coalition that reunified the business elites and changed the orientation of foreign policy. The coalition led by MDB-PSDB has adopted a foreign policy that subordinated Brazil to the hegemonic power and has contributed to the paralysis and the deconstruction of Unasur as a geopolitical bloc.