In the search for autonomy: Brazil's foreign policy on nuclear issues (1940-2011)

This article aims to examine Brazil's foreign policy on nuclear issues from 1940 to 2011 and identify the main factors that defined the ways through which Brazil searched for autonomy in issues related to nuclear non-proliferation, nuclear disarmament and peaceful uses of nuclear energy. It argues that changes in the ways through which Brazil searched for autonomy were results of external pressures from great power states and opportunities to engage with nuclear-weapon and non-nuclear-weapon states created by international institutions, as well as pressures from domestic actors such as congressmen, military men, nuclear researchers and civil society groups.