Institute for the Study of U.S. Foreign Affairs

Abstract

The State University of São Paulo Júlio de Mesquita Filho (UNESP) will host the project of the Institute for the Study of U.S. Foreign Affairs, to be developed in collaboration with the Campinas State University (UNICAMP), the Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP), the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), the Federal University of Piauí (UFPI), the Paraiba State University (UEPB) and the Center for Studies of Contemporary Culture (Cedec). The proposal we hereby present regarding the foundation of the Institute for the Study of the U.S. Foreign Affairs, is the after math of one of such projects. In fact, this proposal aims at creating a solid institutional support and to widen the project United States: Impact of its Policies in the Reconfiguration of the International System which has been under way since mid-2007. Moreover, the Institute will enable conditions to develop for the multiplication of the competencies developed along with the research project and for publicizing the large-scale knowledge thus produced. Institute for the Study of the U.S. Foreign Affairs. Given the central role played by this country in the international system, the scope suggested in the title of the project seems to be far too broad. In fact, for a long time the United States have been defining their interests in a global perspective, and since World War II have consistently pursued such interests globally: no region or regime lies beyond their reach. In this sense, to speak about the United States foreign affairs sounds like speaking about international relations in every possible domain. But this is not the case. The specificity of the Institute proposed hereby is circumscribed within two clear Iimitations: 1) its subject matter is not U.S. society, economy, politics or culture at large, but the United States foreign policy, naturally, in order to understand such subject matter profoundly, we will need to take into consideration an undetermined range of economic, social, cultural and political factors, but within our field of studies these will come up already, sieved, and only to the extent where they are relevant to comprehend American foreign policy; 2) when examining one of the many contexts where American foreign policy exerts its influence, we will not necessarily focus on the wealth of information and endless particularities within each of these contexts, but, yet again, just on those elements which show themselves significant in order to understand the aforementioned policy. In order to accomplish the aforesaid objective, research at the institute will be organized in four wide thematic areas, in turn divided into a coherent set of fourteen research Iines which make up an organic whole, due to their close mutual association. These fourteen research Iines shall be described in detail in a separate document. For the purpose of this presentation, we will only name the four wide thematic areas: 1) U.S. international policy; 2) U.S. grand strategy and security policy; 3) the role played by the United States in global governance; 4) integration and crisis in South America and U.S. foreign policy in the region. (AU)