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developed countries would continue on the basis of sovereignty and mutualrespect. 529By 2010, according to the Party, the main areas of thematic consonance between theParty and the Brazilian government were:the defence of world peace, respect for the sovereignty and self-determination ofpeoples and nations, the democratic reform of international institutions, advocacyof regional integration, south-south alliances and relations, and the promotion ofhuman, economic, cultural, environmental and social rights. 530PT affords the Brazilian government the opportunity to operate a parallel foreignpolicy. How it does this and to what effect are important questions. By engaging theopposition parties in neighbouring countries with governments led by the right,such as Colombia and Mexico further north, PT maintains a presence in the politicsof neighbouring countries through its quiet support of leftist movements. Asaffirmed by its foreign policy statement of 2010,From the regional point of view, the PT will strive – in compliance with theBrazilian and each country’s law – to make sure that the Latin-American left willnot lose any government to the right; and will also contribute to accelerate theregional integration process and persist on the road to structural changes. 531A survey of the literature on PT’s evolution as a political party, particularly after itsascent to power in 2002, almost creates the illusion of inevitability of the changesPT has experienced. First, in its efforts to become a vote-maximising party, andthen as a party-in-government, PT’s adaptations have been numerous and welldocumented.532 It is important not to lose sight, however, of the historicalcontingency of PT’s accession to power, and of its conduct in power. Just a fewmonths prior to Lula’s election victory in 2002, “the BBC compared Lula to Cuba’sFidel Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez, calling him a “veteran left-wing529 Partido dos Trabalhadores, Lula Presidente: Programa de Governo: 2007-2010(2006): 14.530 PT, “The Workers’ Party International Policy”, 21.531 Ibid., 26532 For a selection, see Keck, The Workers’ Party; Michael Lowy, tr. Arthur Denner, “ANew Type of Party: The Brazilian PT”, Latin American Perspectives, 14, Issue 55, No.4(1987): 453-464; David Samuels, “From Socialism to Social Democracy: PartyOrganization and the Transformation of the Workers’ Party in Brazil”, ComparativePolitical Studies, 37, No.9 (2004); Richard Bourne, Lula of Brazil: The Story So Far,(Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2008).213