Geopolitical Changes, the Strategies of Modernization, and the Rethinking of „Sub-Imperialism:” The Brazilian Case

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze theoretical questions using examples from the main geopolitical changes occurring worldwide. In the 1980s and 1990s, in the three semi-peripheral regions of the world, namely Southern Europe, Latin America, and Eastern-Central Europe, authoritarian and bureaucratic dictatorships collapsed. Subsequently emerging countries, including members of the BRICS-group, began to play a significant part in world politics. In Latin America, the era of the
so-called „Exceptional States,” followed by a transition to democracy, came to end, resulting in hybrid political systems. New regional integrative organizations such as Mercosur, UNASUR, the Sanghai Cooperation Organization, the Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation, and the Eurasian Economic Union were reorganized and established. During the years of transition, international relations underwent significant changes. The bipolar world system gradually gave way to a multipolar system. Concurrently, the notion of „sub-imperialism,” initially developed by Ruy Mauro Marini in the 1970s, began to be reconsidered and reevaluated. This shift prompted several questions: Is the concept for mulated by Ruy Mauro Marini fifty years still applicable today? Can it effectively describe phenomena unfolding during this period? Should we classify Brazil as a great power or as a sub-imperialistic state?