Imperial dream: the RILA as achievement of the second reign’s diplomatic objective for Paraguay

Abstract

This work has the purpose of presenting the LAIR (Latin American Integration Route) as the achievement of diplomatic objectives already traced in the Brazilian imperial era between itself and Paraguay. This paper will show how, in the diplomatic field, the Empire can be qualified as the historical period which designed Brazil, fixing it as a regional power and positioning itself in the way of ensuring policies whose consequences would be beneficial even for its neighbors. The border relations between Brazil and Paraguay will be treated with its peculiarities, besides a description of the region’s hydrography with regards to the River Plate Basin. So, this work will enter in its historical part by analyzing the formation of the Brazilian Empire’s Second Reign, explaining its development and characteristics that interest to this paper, presenting its diplomatic conceptions, showing the problems faced by the tropical monarchy in the Platine Region and the objectives and paths searched to bypass them. In the end, it will be brought to analysis the idea of the LAIR and its Latin American integration project, with investments aiming to use the region’s hydrography to export local products, linking it with the geopolitical objective searched since imperial times to guarantee the free access to the Platine rivers. This research utilized qualitative methodology, analyzing books and articles in the area to base the central thesis. The result achieved met the original goal, showing that the LAIR comes from the development of a conception of foreign relations created, for Brazil, in the Monarchy.