Lines of Research
Line 1 - Studies for Peace, International Safety and Human Rights
It is possible to say that there are some fundamental pillars for the existence of International Relations as an academic discipline: international peace and safety, the process of building them and the advancement of human rights in the world. Thus, nowadays the study of Peace, International Safety and Human Rights is inevitable if we want to deeply understand and thoroughly study international politics. A quick analysis of the current international reality is enough for us to realize that it is evident that the core of the international agenda is peace, safety and human rights. Consequently, there are currently several basic activities being performed by the most diverse actors – States, International and Regional Organizations, or even Non-Governmental Organizations, just to name a few – which have been focusing on building peace, increasing international safety and searching for the establishment of human rights in their fields of action. A careful analysis of the international scenario makes it clear that the crucial issues being debated over as far as the international agenda is concerned are: theoretical problematization of peace, analysis of the roots of conflicts, the launching or not of peace support operations, post war reconstruction actions, affirmation of human rights at a global level, policies for the reconstruction and development of States after conflicts, humanitarian disarmament, the relation between international safety and development, among others. In sum, it is noticeable that a great deal of the international debate is centered on the discussion about the transformation of the armed conflicts, the construction of international peace and safety that is sustainable in the long term, as well as the execution of actions which are deeply anchored on human rights at a global level. It is precisely these types of discussions and debates that constitute the academic and scientific scope of this line of research.
Professors:
- Professor Dr. Jayme Benvenuto Lima (Permanent)
- Professor Doutor Ramon Blanco (Permanent)
- Professor Doutor Gustavo Oliveira Vieira (Permanent)
Related Research Groups:
- Study Center for Peace
- Chair of Studies for Peace
- Group: Post Coloniality and Integration in Latin America
Line 2 - Development and Transnational Capital
This line of research studies the relations between the social-economic structure of the countries and the incidence of their political scenario on them. Its general objective is to identify, analyze and explain the processes of economic transnationalization and the trade exchanges, especially the details of the results of the current world configuration both on the economic and the social environments as well as on the game of interest and the making of internal and foreign public decisions. In studying this, we are faced with the consequences of triggering imperialism and the situations of the dependence in different economic models and their consequences in different territorial contexts. Currently, it is possible to identify the practices and the working process of companies, the ruling classes and the States which are governed by different political signs and models of accumulation. In this sense, it is possible to debate both the particularities which turn the matter into a constantly changing scenario, and the essential characteristics adopted by the current capitalist system and international relations. In this line of research, we study the dynamics of concentration and centralization of capital, the processes of export of capital and goods, and the development of the monopolistic tendencies of capitalism. At the same time, we intend to characterize the recent political process and the configuration of the relations between States and the civil society, making a dialectical link between these transformations and the substantial changes in the current global capitalist system. This proposal of study considers that there is an intimate relation among the economic, political, social and cultural factors at a national and international level which, at a certain moment in time, crystalize in the configuration of specific scenarios. Thus, we aim at approaching the economic transformations in the social relations and the international political decisions from a relational perspective.
Professors:
- Professor Dr Fernando Gabriel Romero (Permanent)
- Professora Dra Paula Daniela Fernandez (Permanent)
- Professora Dra Roberta Sperandio Traspadini (Permanent)
Related Research Groups:
- Interdisciplinary Study and Research Group on Transnational American Capitals, State, Classes (GEPITALC)
- Knowledges in Movement: the meeting of Ruy Mauro Marini, Paulo Freire and Augusto Boal in the fight for land and labor in Brazil
Line 3 - Foreign Policies, Actors and International Processes
The behavior of the State is one of the main objects of study for the International Relations Analysts. It has an influence from the elaboration of theories to the establishment and consolidation of the sub area of Foreign Policy Analysis (APE). In this sense, the State has been for decades the main actor as far as the discipline is concerned, silencing the existence of other actors in the international scenario and also the relationship among them. But specialists with different perspectives have casted doubt on the primacy of the State due to the advent of globalization the a greater protagonism by non-state actors, by the subnational dimensions of the State itself and the movement of criticism of the mainstream. In addition to that, the more emphatic role of non-governmental organizations, social movements, subnational governments and interest groups in the State and in the international organizations suggests a more complex relation between these actors, which has been progressively approached in Foreign Policy Analysis and International Politics. In line with this trend, the development of this line of research follows the analysis of the problems related to foreign policies and their consequences in the national and international scenario, as well as the actions of their several actors at a global level. By joining the various theoretical and methodological approaches of the discipline called International Relations, for contemporary or historical interpretations, this line of research aims at understanding the dynamics between actors and institutions while emphasizing its characteristic of being procedural and strategic. Considering that politics arises from the interaction of factors from several areas, the objective is to increase the understanding about these determinants in the creation of the most varied agendas. In order to do that, we aim at assessing institutional designs, the distribution of interest among the actors, and also the role of identities and local, regional, global and transnational flows, establishing an interface between foreign and international politics.
Professors:
- Professora Dr Ana Carolina Teixeira Delgado (Permanent)
- Professor Dr Lucas Ribeiro Mesquita (Permanent)
- Professor Dr Mamadou Alpha Diallo
- Professor Doutor Micael Alvino Silva (Collaborator)
Related Research Groups:
- Theorizing the International Relations
- Research Center on Latin American Foreign Policy (NUPELA)
- Research Group on the Three-Border Region (GPTF).