O Congresso Universal de Raças de Londres (1911) e a Conferência de Durban (2001): contrastes na abordagem étnico-racial da política externa brasileira

Abstract

This work investigates the continuities and ruptures in the approach to the ethnic-racial dimension in Brazilian Foreign Policy between the Universal Races Congress (1911) and the Durban Conference (2001). This is a qualitative study that adopts the process tracing method to examine the interaction between the global and domestic contexts in defining the racial agenda. To do so, it mobilizes as a theoretical framework Robert Putnam's two-level game theory and Arato and Cohen's civil society theory, complemented by references that discuss the construction of national identity. The objective is to critically analyze the factors that drove changes and continuities in the Brazilian Foreign Policy. The investigation is based on a review of specialized literature and analysis of primary and secondary sources. The results demonstrate that, in 1911, Brazilian diplomacy silenced the racial issue to project an image of harmonious coexistence, while in 2001, pressure from a cohesive and globally connected black activism forced the state to translate international commitments into concrete domestic public policies, such as the “Lei de Cotas”. The research concludes that the Durban event represented a significant rupture, highlighting the Itamaraty's loss of monopoly over the international agenda and the strengthening of civil society as a decisive actor in the conduct of foreign policy.