Abstract
The objective of this chapter is to test the argument that several authors of the Brazilian School of Geopolitics (BSG) contributed to, thereby cementing the strategic culture of South American integration. That strategic culture would, decades later, give an impulse to the South American regional integration maneuver.
The test requires describing and explaining the thoughts of the main authors associated with the BSG - Mário Travassos, Golbery do Couto e Silva, Carlos de Meira Mattos, and Therezinha de Castro -, together with analyzing the influences that they had, their originality, goals, and inconsistencies. The research is accomplished through the innovative theoretical and methodological framework of neoclassical geopolitics.
In this way, the substance of the chapter is defined by (i) the set of three geopolitical factors (geographical space, geographical position, and circulation), and (ii) an evaluation of the systemic stimuli that existed when each of the authors was at work. These two groups of topics constitute the independent variable of neoclassical geopolitics.
Moreover, the model of neoclassical geopolitics extends the analysis by including (iii) the perceptions of space of these authors - an intervening variable. Apart from the ground-breaking perspective of testing the argument, two additional facts justify the pertinence of this study. (1) Literature about the BSG remains relatively rare in languages other than Portuguese. (2) The chapter provides explanations for the preference of Brazil over the last three decades for the South American regional integration, in detriment of a strong bilateral relationship with the USA together with sea-based power projection - outcomes that have been by-passed.