IR Center organizes a conference on nuclear history of Brazil and Argentina

On March 21-23, the Social Sciences and History School?s (CPDOC) International Relations Center organized a conference on the history of nuclear programs in Brazil and Argentina that took place from 1967  to 1988. The conference was prepared as a critical oral history, with key nuclear policy  players from both countries to answer the questions made by scholars and discuss declassified primary sources.The conference is the result of a partnership between CPDOC and the University of Birmingham's Department of Political Science and International Studies. Nicholas J. Wheeler, director of the British university's Institute for Conflict, Cooperation and Security, and Matias Spektor, coordinator of FGV's International Relations Center, organized the event.Lecturers answered a series of questions jointly made by researchers of FGV and Birmingham. Professors John Tirman, director of MIT's International Relations Center, Andrew Hurrell, of Oxford University, and Timothy McDonnell, of Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars also joined the group.The conference results can make historians reconsider core historical aspects of the bilateral relation between Brazil and Argentina. So far, most experts consider that both countries were engaged in a latent antagonism during military regimes on both sides, particularly after the second half of the 1970's. This rivalry would explain in great part the secret nuclear programs developed in Brasília and Buenos Aires. The end of military dictatorship would have built conditions to make them close again. However, this story needs to be reviewed.Evidence arising from the conference suggest that although some opposition might have existed between both countries, it was not the main cause of secret nuclear programs. Suspicions from both sides were mitigated by the important bonds between technicians and scientists of the two countries, which maintained the flow of information even at the most critical moments during bilateral negotiations. On the political aspect, both countries shared a critical stand against the international regime of non-proliferation, which ultimately contributed to build trust. With the end of the conference, the team of researchers is preparing for the publication of the complete transcription of the interview, besides the online publication of a series of inedited documents on the topic. The CPDOC is also working on a documentary on the meeting.