Brazil Comes to the Future: Living Time and Space in the International Order of Competition
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Brazil Comes to the Future: Living Time and Space in the International Order of Competition Francine Rossone de Paula Dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought François Debrix, Chair Aaron Ansell Patricia M. Nickel Timothy W. Luke May 3, 2016 Blacksburg, VA Keywords: Brazil, Emerging Powers, International Relations, Time, Space, Future, Progress Brazil Comes to the Future: Living Time and Space in the International Order of Competition Francine Rossone de Paula ABSTRACT The rise of Brazil as an economic power in the last decade has been celebrated by politicians and analysts as an opportunity for the country to take advantage of its visibility and bargaining power in order to effectively advocate for and promote an institutional and normative reform of the international order toward a less asymmetric and exclusionary space for politics. This dissertation aims to examine the spatial and temporal assumptions in these recent discourses about Brazil’s emergence to the global stage and Brazil’s disposition towards the future. Departing from an understanding that there are scripts governing the realm of the possible and the visible in international politics, this dissertation proposes an analysis of what defines the conditions of possibility for Brazil’s emergence to the global stage. By looking at discourses about Brazil’s position and positioning in international politics, this study explores implicit and explicit rules defining the possibilities for one to be seen as a ‘legitimate presence in the future’ and what these spatiotemporal constructs reveal about what is allowed as repetition and as change in the world. Contrary to many optimistic accounts of Brazil’s emergence as a transformational leader from the developing world, I argue that it is only possible for Brazil to be discursively represented as an emerging global player and/or a ‘country of the future that may have finally arrived’ because of the same limiting spatial and temporal discursive representations in world politics that translate difference into hierarchy and that contain and define intelligible possibilities for an alternative political order. Brazil Comes to the Future: Living Time and Space in the International Order of Competition Francine Rossone de Paula PUBLIC ABSTRACT Brazil’s accelerated growth as an economic power in the last decade has been celebrated by many politicians and analysts as an opportunity for the country to start influencing reforms in international institutions (such as the World Trade Organization and the United Nations) that would favor the construction of a more democratic and less unequal international system. This dissertation aims to examine the assumptions about space and time in these recent discourses about Brazil’s emergence to the global stage and Brazil’s disposition towards the future. Departing from an understanding that there are scripts defining what is acceptable and imaginable in relation to international politics, this dissertation proposes an analysis of what enables Brazil’s emergence to the global stage. By looking at discourses about Brazil’s position and positioning in international politics, this study explores implicit and explicit rules defining the possibilities for one to be seen as a ‘legitimate presence in the future’ and what these spatiotemporal constructs reveal about what is allowed as repetition and as change in the world. Contrary to many optimistic accounts of Brazil’s emergence as a transformational leader from the developing world, I highlight the fact that it is only possible for Brazil to be accepted and represented in discourses and as an emerging global player and/or a ‘country of the future that may have finally arrived’ because of the same limiting conditions for visibility reproduced through world politics that translate difference into hierarchy and that contain and define intelligible possibilities for an alternative political order. Acknowledgements I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Dr. François Debrix, for his excellent guidance, rigor, patience, and support. I would also like to thank Dr. Luke, Dr. Nickel, and Dr. Ansell for their questions, suggestions, guidance, encouragement, and supportive participation in my dissertation committee. I would like to express my most sincere thanks to my friends Katie, Sascha, and Jamie. I would not have been able to finish my dissertation without their loving and caring presence. I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to all friends, colleagues, staff, and faculty members at the ASPECT and the Political Science departments who have provided me with the most welcoming environment in the United States. My special thanks to Tamara, Karen, Kim, Phoebe, Mary, Christian, Holly and Taulby. I would like to acknowledge and thank Ed, Ipar, Paola, Kasra, Eric, Sue, and Jennifer for helping me stay balanced and centered throughout the writing process. I would also like to thank Naeem, Sorayya, Camila, Alessandra, Deborah, Julia, Luzia, Mayara, and my friends and relatives in Brazil for inspiring me and motivating me. Last but not least, I would like to thank my parents, José Maria and Marina, my sister Franciane, and especially my husband Leonardo, for their unconditional love and encouragement. I would never have been able to pursue a doctorate degree if they were not always there for me. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ v List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................... vii Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 1 Brazil’s Emergence to the Global Stage ............................................................................................. 6 The New Geography of the World Economy .................................................................................... 8 World Politics as Discourse ................................................................................................................. 12 Intertextuality .......................................................................................................................................... 16 World Politics as Competition ............................................................................................................ 17 Method ........................................................................................................................................................ 20 Structure of the Dissertation .............................................................................................................. 21 Chapter 1 – The Conditions for Re-Presentation in IR .................................................... 26 The Problem of Time ............................................................................................................................. 28 The Political Space ................................................................................................................................. 35 The Discourse of Time .......................................................................................................................... 41 Genealogy and Discourse Analysis Beyond Structuralism ....................................................... 48 The Peculiarities of Genealogical Explorations ............................................................................ 55 Discourse, Power, and International Relations ............................................................................ 59 Discourse and Development .............................................................................................................................. 63 Geopolitics and Discourse .................................................................................................................................. 65 Problematization .................................................................................................................................... 68 The Chronotope ....................................................................................................................................... 71 Dare Not to Know .................................................................................................................................... 74 Time and the Country of the Future ................................................................................................. 77 Chapter 2 – The End of Times: Developing Between the ‘Space of Experience’ and the ‘Horizon of Expectation’ ..................................................................................................... 79 Progress and the Space of Experience ............................................................................................. 82 Prophecy and the Horizon of Expectation ...................................................................................... 85 The Space Between Prophecy and Progress .................................................................................