CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Horta, Pedro Henrique Melchior Nunes da |
|---|---|
| Title | Rhetorical Coercion and Desecuritization: the case of Brazil's nuclear program |
| Summary | This thesis aims to analyze the interplay of rhetorical coercion and desecuritization in international security, using Brazil's nuclear program and its rivalry with Argentina as a case study. The research seeks to demonstrate how desecuritization can include processes of coercion, challenging the traditional view in international security literature that claims that desecuritization happens mainly through consensual and cooperative processes. To explore this, the study is divided into two chapters. The first chapter provides a literature review on the evolution of international security, defining rhetorical coercion through the lenses of framing theory and introducing concepts such as securitization and desecuritization. The second chapter employs a case study methodology, examining historical literature to understand the use of discourse and external pressures in shaping Brazil’s nuclear policies. The findings bring attention to the role that was played by countries such as the United States in framing Brazil’s nuclear projects, along with the noncompliance to nonproliferation norms, as a security threat. Through diplomatic pressure and conditional cooperation, the United States influenced Brazil’s internal policies, using rhetorical coercion to make this transition happen. The case study illustrates how Brazil and Argentina, countries that faced a security dilemma in the nuclear field, moved from nuclear rivalry to regional cooperation, demonstrating that desecuritization cases can happen through coercive means, supported by rhetorical coercion. |
| Supervisor | Paul Roe |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/horta_pedro-henrique.pdf |
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