The article discusses the motivations and purposes that lead Brazil to take part in negotiations with Argentina and Chile, between 1907 and 1915, to sign a treaty of "friendly political intelligence", known as ABC. In order to place this initiative in the international context of the period, the article surveys the characteristics of the American international system as well as the role played by pan-americanism. To identify its political significance, it studies the foundations of Rio Branco's foreign policy (1902-1912) and the most relevant interpretations of the ABC in the historiography using the concepts of states system and hegemony as methodological resources.
Foreign policy; American states system; Baron of Rio Branco; Treaty of the ABC