As origens da Guerra do Paraguai: uma análise das causas da guerra à luz da teoria realista das Relações Internacionais

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the origins of the Paraguayan War (1864-1870) connecting the main causes with political realism, an International Relations theory devoted to the study of the causes of war. The variables of political realism help to understand the phenomenon of war and organize the intellectual enterprise in levels of analysis and concepts. For this purpose, I sought to present a study on the importance of the political context of the meanings of concepts such as "balance of power"; "Human nature"; "Balance of threats" and "geopolitics" and its connections with the Paraguayan War causes. The political and strategic thinking of the main leaders was also exposed to understand what they thought of the national power and the war itself. Similarly, the diplomatic environment and the evolution of regional tensions were described with the aid of documents and letters of the period helped to understand the path taken by Brazilian, Argentinean, Paraguayan and Uruguayan toward the tragedy of war.