External pressure and commercial opening in Brazil

ABSTRACT This article discusses the influence of external pressure on the Brazilian trade liberalization process. The conditions under which external pressure is defined are based on the approach of international politics authors known as “realists” and related to the interests of the States, reliance on specific pressure instruments and vulnerability to pressure. Events such as the decline of the American hegemony, the rise of newly industrialized countries, the globalization of the international economy and the debt crisis, which led to an increase in international conflict during the l980’s are analysed, as well as domestic factors like the economic vulnerability of Brazil.