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Initial and prolonged military intervention in Brazil beginning with the events of 1964 has been the subject of considerable theorizing. Yet, relatively little data has been produced to support the various theories. As a consequence, scholars are left with a variety of imaginative and cogently stated options but without an ability to decide which of the choices most closely describes the political reality.Direct and prolonged military intervention has been linked to factors external and internal to the military. Theories emphasizing the change of foreign investment patterns beginning in the 1950s (Cardoso, 1973), the persistence of an authoritarian, perhaps, corporativistic culture (Skidmore, 1973; Roett, 1972; Schmitter, 1971 and 1973), economic malaise (Skidmore, 1967; Lewis, 1975; Fishlow, 1973) and the shortcomings of political parties and civilian leadership (Schneider, 1965 and 1971; Tavares, 1970; Stepan, 1971; Reisky de Dubnic, 1968), and stress elements external to the military. Others, the role of the Superior War College in shaping interventionist attitudes among the officer corps (Stepan, 1973) and the military's assumption of the moderating power orpoder moderator(Torres, 1966) stress elements internal to the military.

A growing realization on the part of scholars and the general public has been the increasing interdependence of the world. Technology and communications have narrowed distance and time between diverse cultures, resulting in increased contact, if not increased cultural harmony.The immigration of millions of persons to new homes has heightened this interdependence. In the Western Hemisphere not only the United States but also Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile received substantial numbers of immigrants.Brazil, alone, was the recipient of more than 5 million immigrants. The majority of the immigrants, apart from those of the Iberian Peninsula, came from Germany, Italy, and Japan. Chronologically, the Germans arrived first, the Italians second, and the Japanese third. Numerically, Italy has contributed 1.5 million, Germany 300,000, and Japan 170,000 to date.