Between the West and the “non-West”: Ideas of Brazil in Paulo Nogueira Batista and José Guilherme Merquior

Abstract

This article revisits the unexpected convergence between the openly antagonistic ambassadors Paulo Nogueira Batista and José Guilherme Merquior in their views of Brazil’s international identity as hybrid—simultaneously Western and non-Western. The study of this episode in the history of Brazilian foreign policy allows us to examine how the process of defining national identity interacts with the conception and defense of national interests. Specifically, it analyzes how their writings show that Batista defended a “dual international insertion”, a pragmatic strategy that rejects exclusionary alignments, whereas Merquior advanced the notion of an “other West,” reconciling advocacy of modernization with the country’s cultural and historical heritage. The article also seeks to demonstrate that this convergence is rooted in an earlier interpretive lineage and in Brazilian diplomatic tradition. Finally, it shows how these texts themselves came to occupy a place in the struggle over Brazilian identity, helping sustain that interpretive tradition to this day.