Flávio Saraiva and International Relations

history, regions and concepts

Abstract

Abstract: This article aims to present, in an introductory and non-exhaustive manner, some aspects of Flávio Saraiva's thought, as an example of how it is possible in peripheral and semi-peripheral countries to produce high-level knowledge, comparable to that produced in more traditional centers of studies in the History of International Relations and International Relations, especially those of Euro-American origin. To this end, we have examined works, chapters and sections that seemed most consistent with this objective. In the first section, we present his reading of European, North American and South American historiography in the History of International Relations, seeking common points and their main differences, indicating the presence of knowledge that is historically, geographically and socially localized. We then highlight some elements of the politics, debates and academic approaches to Brazil's relations with the African continent, such as the historical legacy of colonialism and slavery, economic and geopolitical interests and culturalist discourse. In the third section, we delve deeper into our author’s view of culturalist discourse in the context of Brazil’s policy of rapprochement with Africa. The final section analyzes the “theoretical” works organized by Saraiva – Foreign Policy and Polical Regime Concepts, Histories and Theories of International Relations for the 21st Century –, especially the primarily national and regional nature of knowledge and the debate between theory and concept, to conclude with the observation that Saraiva applied in his studies what he formulated in his theoretical reflections.