Hierarchy and hegemony have long been central to international politics. In recent years, scholars have begun to unpack and closely inspect a wide range of hierarchical dynamics in the international system. Yet, much of this work pays little attention to the way in which unequal power and domestic politics interact to shape global order. My work attempts to change this by looking at the patterns of interaction between the major powers of the day and the secondary states upon which the viability and legitimacy of hierarchical orders depend. Overall, my current projects fall into four substantive areas: autocracy and transnational repression within liberal international order, the politics of nuclear latency, the determinants of climate policy in new democracies, and regional security in the Western Hemisphere. I also retain my earlier-career interest in the grand strategies of modern Brazil.
THE POLITICS OF NUCLEAR LATENCY
"What Shapes Public Preferences Over Nuclear Proliferation? Experimental Evidence from Brazil", Matias Spektor, Guilherme Fasolin, and Juliana Camargo.
"The Global South in the Nuclear Age," forthcoming in The Cambridge History of the Nuclear Age (edited by Leopoldo Nuti and Christian Ostermann).
“‘We Are Not a Nonproliferation Agency’: Henry Kissinger’s Failed Attempt to Accommodate Nuclear Brazil, 1974–1977.” (With Carlo Patti). 2020. Journal of Cold War Studies 22 (2): p. 58–93. PDF
"Nuclear Revolution and Hegemonic Hierarchies: how global Hiroshima played out in South America." 2020. In: Michael D. Gordin & G. John Ikenberry (Eds). The Age of Hiroshima. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 164-178. PDF
"Without Reversal: Brazil as a Latent Nuclear State." 2019. In: Joseph F. Pilat. (Org.). Nuclear Latency and Hedging. 1ed.Washington D.C.: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, v. , p. 175-199. PDF.
"The Evolution of Brazil's Nuclear Intentions." 2016. The Nonproliferation Review. 23/5:6: 635-652. PDF.
The Origins of Nuclear Cooperation: a Critical Oral History of Argentina and Brazil. (Edited by Matias Spektor with Rodrigo Mallea and Nicholas Wheeler). Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and FGV, 2015. PDF.
THE DETERMINANTS OF CLIMATE POLICY IN NEW DEMOCRACIES
"Nationalist Backlash Against Foreign Climate Shaming.” 2021. Matias Spektor, Umberto Mignozzetti, and Guilherme Fasolin. Global Environmental Politics, (2022) 22 (1): 139–158. PDF | Supplementary Material
"Determinants of Public Belief in Climate Change in Latin America", (Working Paper), Matias Spektor, Guilherme Fasolin, and Juliana Camargo
"Determinants of Individual-Level Climate Risk Perception in Latin America", (Working Paper), Matias Spektor, Guilherme Fasolin, and Juliana Camargo
"Defiance Against Foreign Shaming during Climate Crises”, Matias Spektor, Juliana Camargo, and Guilherme Fasolin [Pre-Analysis Plan]
"The Micro-foundations of Openness to Foreign Direct Investment: beyond the capital-labor divide”, Carolina Moehlecke, Matias Spektor, Guilherme Fasolin. [Pre-Analysis Plan]. PDF.
CHALLENGES TO LIBERAL INTERNATIONAL ORDER
"Hypocrisy Costs: Experimental Evidence on Foreign Public Support for Liberal International Order" (Pre-Analysis Plan), Matias Spektor and Guilherme Fasolin. PDF.
"Networked Resistance to Transnational Repression" (Working Paper), Matias Spektor.
"How Time Horizons Moderate Patron Influence on State Repression" (Working Paper), Matias Spektor.
"Regionalism and Political Violence: Hegemony through Transnational Social Compacts in Cold War South America." Forthcoming July 2021. In: Amitav Acharya, Melisa Deciancio, Diana Tussie (Eds.). Latin America in Global International Relations. Routledge.
REGIONAL SECURITY IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE
"The United States and the 1964 Brazilian Military Coup." 2018. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History: 1-19. PDF
"Brazil: the Underlying Ideas of Regional Policies." 2010. In: Daniel Flemes (ed.). Regional Leadership in the Global System: Ideas, Interests and Strategies of Regional Powers. New York: Routledge. Chapter 9. PDF.
THE GRAND STRATEGIES OF MODERN BRAZIL
"Strategies of Rising Brazil: Postmortem Review, Looking Forward." 2021. Contemporary Politics, p. 1-18. PDF.
“República na era da globalização.” In: Lilia Moritz Schwarcz & Heloisa Murgel Starling (Eds). 2019. Dicionário da República: 51 textos críticos. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras. PDF.
“Brazil: When Political Oligarchies Limit Polarization but Fuel Populism.” 2019. In: Thomas Carothers & Andrew O'Donohue (Eds). Democracies Divided: The Global Challenge of Political Polarization. Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press, p. 228-254. Matias Spektor with Umberto Mignozzetti. Amazon.
"Diplomacia da Ruptura." 2019. In: Democracia em risco? 22 ensaios sobre o Brasil hoje. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, p. 228-254. PDF.
"Brazil: The Costs of Multiparty Presidentialism." 2018. Journal of Democracy. 29/2: 113-127. Matias Spektor with Eduardo Mello. PDF.
"Brazil: Shadows of the Past and Contested Ambitions." 2016. In: William I. Hitchcock, Melvyn P. Leffler, Jeffrey W. Legro (eds.). Shaper Nations: Strategies for a Changing World. Harvard University Press, p. 17-35. PDF.
"O projeto autonomista na política externa brasileira". 2014. In: Aristides Monteiro Neto. (Org.). Política Externa, Espaço e Desenvolvimento. 1ed. Brasília: Ipea, v. 3, p. 19-60. PDF.
"Brazilian Assessment of the End of the Cold War." 2011. In: Artemy M. Kalinovsky and Sergey Radchenko (eds.). The end of the Cold War in the Third World: new perspectives on regional conflict. New York: Routledge. 2011. p. 229-244. PDF.
"Obama and Brazil." 2011. In: Abraham F. Lowenthal, Theodore J. Piccone and Laurence Whitehead (eds.). Shifting the Balance: Obama and the Americas. Brookings Institution Press, p. 43-53. PDF.
"Globalização e Estado nas revoluções globais de 1968: Irã, Brasil e Indonésia". 2010. Revista Estudos Históricos. 23/46: 363 - 376. PDF.
"Ideias de ativismo regional: a transformação das leituras brasileiras da região". 2010. Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional. 53/1: 25-44. PDF.
"Origens e direção do Pragmatismo Ecumênico e Responsável (1974-1979)". 2004. Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional. 47/2: 191-222. PDF.
"O Brasil e a Argentina entre a cordialidade oficial e o projeto de integração (1967-1979)". 2002. Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional. 45/1: 117-145 . PDF.
"A abertura do Acervo Azeredo da Silveira". 2001. Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional. 44/2: 186-189. PDF.
18 dias: quando Lula e FHC se uniram para conquistar o apoio de Bush. Objetiva, 2014. Amazon.
Kissinger e o Brasil. Jorge Zahar, 2009. Amazon.
Dez Desafios de Política Externa. (Edited by Matias Spektor). CEBRI, 2016. PDF.
Azeredo da Silveira: um depoimento. (Edited by Matias Spektor). FGV, 2010. Amazon.
POLICY AND OPINION
Prospects for Nuclear Governance in Brazil, An Independent Report by Togzhan Kassenova, Lucas Florentino & Matias Spektor (March 2020).
PDF | Portuguese version
Bolsonaro will regret baiting China the Chinese Tiger, The Financial Times (December 2018).
Si no logra los cambios prometidos, la ola también se lo tragará, La Nacion (October 2018).
It's Not Just the Right That's Voting for Bolsonaro. It's Everyone, Foreign Policy (October 2018).
How Brazil's Operation Car Wash Is Threatened by Politicans, Foreign Affairs (May 2018).
Prospects for Safeguarding Brazil's Naval Nucelar Propulsion Program Issue Brief. Federation of American Scientists. August 2017.
How to Fix Brazil: Breaking an Addiction to Bad Government, Foreign Affairs (September / October,2016): 102-110. Matias Spektor with Eduardo Mello.
PDF
AQ Top 5 Corruption Busters: Sérgio Moro, Americas Quarterly (October 2016).
Five Goals for Brazil's New Foreign Policy, Americas Quarterly (October 2016).
A política externa de tucanos e petistas, Folha de São Paulo, Ilustríssima (Outubro de 2015).
The State of Brazil's South American Project. Inter-American Dialogue, Working Paper, June 2014: 1-11.
U.S Nuclear Accomodation of Brazil a Model for Iran Policy? World Politics Review (July 2013).
Humanitarian Interventionism Brazilian Style? Americas Quarterly (Summer 2012).
One Foot in the Region: Eyes on the Global Prize, Americas Quarterly (Spring 2011): 56-61.
Brazil-China: What's Next After Rousseff's Visit? Americas Quarterly (April 2011).
Here's the link to seven years of my foreign column at Folha de S. Paulo, Brazil's leading daily newspaper.