The quest for anatomy : The evolution of Brazil´s role in the international system, 1964-1985 /

I have no doubt that this book is an instant classic. Andrew Hurrell's thesis on Brazilian foreign policy, defended at Oxford, in 1986, allies the finesse of a creative political scientist and the skill of an accomplished historian as it analyses relations with the US while Brazil was under the military regime. His conclusions deserve to be regarded as a reference to all balanced inquiries into the central goals of Brazilian foreign policy, as Gelson Fonseca Jr points out in an elegant Foreword that shows how Hurrell combined his aptitude as a theorist and a sharp eye for international dynamics to reach a diagnosis that still provides a key to understanding the complexities of the diplomatic game. Finally, Hurrell's Preface to this edition revisits his work of the early 1980s and finds that a great deal of it has stood up well: the goal of autonomy remains at the core of Brazil's desired insertion in the international scene, although the reasons why the country did not take the road envisioned by many analysts three or four decades ago still constitute a chalenge to theor critical history and comparative research, useful tools that would greatly help every student (and practitioner)of Brazilian foreign policy