Abstract

This study aims to understand the role of the labor issue in the conduct of Brazilian foreign policy and in its performance at the International Labor Organization (ILO) during the period in which Arnaldo Lopes Süssekind occupied the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare. We argue that ILO became a relevant problem for Brazilian diplomacy from 1964 onward as a tool to obtain legitimacy for the military regime, whose union policy was viewed with suspicion by the international community and that the Ministry of Labor, in conjunction with US labor strategists, was a privileged locus for the elaboration and execution of defense strategies for the Brazilian State.

Keywords:
Labor; Foreign policy; International Labor Organization; Arnaldo Lopes Süssekind