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Download - LSE Theses Online - London School of Economics and ...

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een required <strong>of</strong> PT as a party <strong>of</strong> the opposition entering government 513 . This storyhas been told from various angles as it affects PT’s domestic policies, but fewanalyses examine its impact on PT’s, <strong>and</strong> Brazil’s, foreign policy. 514PT’s policies <strong>and</strong> pronouncements in the early 1980s characterised it as a typicalLatin American party <strong>of</strong> the left. While foreign policy was not explicitly mentionedin the Party’s founding document, the ‘Plan <strong>of</strong> Action’ appended to it enumeratedsolidarity with all oppressed peoples; mutual respect between nations; the deepening<strong>of</strong> international cooperation; <strong>and</strong>, the promotion <strong>of</strong> world peace as the Party’sprimary international concerns. 515 Chief among the party’s guiding principles wasthat <strong>of</strong> solidarity, solidarity stemming both from struggles over workers’ rights in theparty’s early years, <strong>and</strong> from later struggles as part <strong>of</strong> a more unified Brazilianopposition movement. 516 However, “the assumption <strong>of</strong> executive responsibility atthe state <strong>and</strong> municipal levels, <strong>and</strong> gradually increased contacts with like-mindedpolitical parties <strong>and</strong> syndicates <strong>of</strong> the northern hemisphere, helped to give PT’sleadership an appreciation <strong>of</strong> the limits <strong>and</strong> possibilities <strong>of</strong> governmental action”. 517In a general sense, the prior tone <strong>of</strong> recriminations <strong>and</strong> critiques, containingnegative <strong>and</strong> accusatory proclamations, with respect to “markets”, the internationalfinancial institutions, <strong>and</strong> the policies <strong>of</strong> the United States, became more measured<strong>and</strong> balanced, revealing a genuine preoccupation with governabilidade <strong>and</strong> foreignrelations, from the perspective <strong>of</strong> the real possibility <strong>of</strong> victory in the elections <strong>of</strong>October 2002. 518The year 2010 marked the first appearance in the Party’s history <strong>of</strong> a comprehensivePT foreign policy document, The Workers’ Party International Policy (A política513 See Csaba Deák, “Brazil: The Partido dos Trabalhadores in government”, Soundings,(2003); David Samuels, “From Socialism to Social Democracy: Party Organization <strong>and</strong>the Transformation <strong>of</strong> the Workers’ Party in Brazil”, Comparative Political Studies, 37,No. 9 (2004); Wendy Hunter, “The Normalization <strong>of</strong> an Anomaly: The Workers’ Party inBrazil”, World Politics, 59, No.3 (2007).514 An exception is the discussion by scholar-diplomat Pr<strong>of</strong>. Paulo Roberto de Almeida.“A política internacional do PT”.515 Almeida, “A Política Internacional do PT”, 88.516 Keck notes how the labour movement was not initially as enamoured <strong>of</strong> the idea <strong>of</strong> a‘unified opposition’ as perhaps other segments – the liberal elites, students <strong>and</strong>intellectuals – <strong>of</strong> the opposition to the military were. However, “There was aconvergence between the opposition elites’ need for mass momentum <strong>and</strong> the newlabor leaders’ need for recognition; they helped each other.” This is an importantsecondary source <strong>of</strong> the commitment to solidarity in PT. See Margaret E. Keck, TheWorkers’ Party <strong>and</strong> Democratization in Brazil. (New Haven <strong>and</strong> <strong>London</strong>: Yale UniversityPress, 1992): 41.517 Almeida, “A Política Internacional do PT”, 90.518 Ibid., 93.210

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