Speakers

• Dr Carlo Patti is a Professor of International Relations at the Federal University of Goiás, Brazil.
• Chair: Dr Hassan Elbahtimy, Co-Director of the Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS), King’s College London.
• Discussant: Dr Sara Kutchesfahani, Director of the N Square DC Hub and columnist for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
• Discussant: Dr Vinicius de Carvalho, Director of King’s Brazil Institute, King’s College London.

This online event discusses Carlo Patti's book Brazil in the Global Nuclear Order (1945-2018). The book is the first comprehensive and definitive history of the Brazilian nuclear activities and diplomacy. It provides an in-depth explanation of the decision to give up nuclear weapons and embrace nonproliferation norms after decades of opposition. It also traces how U.S. nonproliferation policies deeply affected Brazil's decisions.

In the book, Patti draws on recent declassified primary sources collected during years of research in public and private archives in eight different countries and interviews with former presidents, diplomats, and scientists.

This book launch is co-organised by the Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS) and King’s Brazil Institute. It will start with a presentation by the author followed by comments from two discussants and end with a Q&A with the audience.

Speaker biographies

Dr Carlo Patti is a Professor of International Relations at the Federal University of Goiás (Brazil), where he coordinates the graduate programme in Political Science. He received his PhD in History of International Relations from the University of Florence in 2012. His research focuses on Brazil’s foreign policy, Brazil’s nuclear history, international history, nuclear diplomacy, and international security. In 2015, the British Academy awarded him with the Newton Advanced Fellowship. He is the author of “Brazil in the Global nuclear Order, 1945-2018” (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021).

Dr Hassan Elbahtimy is Senior Lecturer at War Studies Department and Co-director of the Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS) at King's College London. His research focuses on the global politics of arms control. He is a Trustee and Executive Committee member of the British International Studies Association (BISA). He was chair then co-chair of BISA’s Global Nuclear Order Working Group 2017-2020 and currently chairs the L.H.M. Ling Outstanding First Book Prize.

Dr Sara Z. Kutchesfahani is the Director of the N Square DC Hub and a columnist for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. She also teaches graduate classes on nuclear non-proliferation policy and nuclear security policy at The George Washington University. She has a PhD in Political Science from University College London and is the author of Global Nuclear Order (Routledge: 2019) and Politics and the Bomb: The Role of Experts in the Creation of Cooperative Nuclear Non-Proliferation Agreements (Routledge: 2014), as well as numerous scholarly and policy articles. 

Dr Vinicius Mariano de Carvalho was born in Barra Mansa, Brazil. He received his PhD from the University of Passau, Germany, and his undergraduate and MA degrees from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil. He joined King’s in 2014 and before which he was Associate Professor for Brazilian Studies at Aarhus University (2008-2014), Denmark, where he was also Director of the Latin American Centre (2012-2014). Vinicius was a Lieutenant in the Brazilian Army (2007-2008), serving in the Military Technical Corps. At King’s, Dr Carvalho is devoting himself to both the Brazil Institute and the Department of War Studies. Dr Carvalho has played an active role contributing to the field of Brazilian studies, founding and editing Brasiliana – Journal for Brazilian Studies and as Editor of the Anthem Brazilian Studies Series. In September 2001 he was appointed as Vice Dean (International) for the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy.