Imperfect neutrality and regional self-restraint: Brazil in the Malvinas War and the Argentine-Brazilian transition toward cooperation

Abstract

This article examines Brazil’s conduct during the 1982 South Atlantic conflict, and its place in the Argentine-Brazilian transition from rivalry to cooperation. Drawing on a historical-interpretive approach, it proposes the concept of regional self-restraint as a middle-range analytical category to characterize the decision of an actor with relative superiority not to exploit a neighbour’s conjunctural vulnerability. The argument holds that Brazil maintained a formally neutral but pro-Argentine position, supported favorable diplomatic initiatives in the inter-American arena, and did not bilaterally capitalize on Argentina’s defeat in sensitive areas. Without claiming that the Malvinas War caused later integration, the article situates Brazil’s 1982 conduct within a broader trajectory of détente and progressive institutionalization.