Leaving the Club Without Slamming the Door: Brazil's return to middle-power status (original) (raw)

& Marcelo Valença - Brazil: a regional power with global aspirations. Paper presented at 2012 International BISA-ISA Conference. Edinburg 2012.

This article highlights Brazil’s increasing visibility in international politics and attributes this to the almost constant maintenance of two long-term goals for the country’s foreign policy: the pursuit of autonomy and greater projection on the international stage. The argument is sustained by a historical analysis of the paradigms of Americanism and globalism and their reformulation in the form of two other paradigms, pragmatic institutionalism and autonomy. These constructs serve as a basis for observing that the continuity of Brazilian foreign policy and the development of specific strategies for attaining its objectives have been consistent even across changing governments and regimes.

Conclusion: Brazil, a Failed Status-Seeker?

Status and the Rise of Brazil, 2020

The contributions to this volume provide a systematic assessment of Brazil's quest for a status upgrade during the three Workers' Party presidential terms (2003-2014). The Government of Brazil (GoB) adopted a two-pronged status-seeking strategy: advocate a reformist agenda for key international institutions, particularly in the security and financial fields, and active engagement with activities related to the maintenance of international order, such as humanitarian protection and development cooperation. Even with minimal results, as demonstrated throughout the chapters, these strategies are worth examining more closely, for a number of reasons. First, Brazil's case can illuminate how rising powers seek higher status within an international order tailored by prevailing major powers. Second, despite its limited success in some issue

Brazil's Candidacy for Major Power Status (2008)

Powers and Principles: International Leadership in a Shrinking World , 2009

Joint text, written with Miguel Diaz, for the project “Mileposts to Responsible Stakeholdership” of the Stanley Foundation (http://www.stanleyfoundation.org/); presented by Miguel Diaz in a Washington meeting (July 8, 2008) and published at the website of the Project “Powers and Principles: International Leadership in a Shrinking World” (November 3rd, 2008; link: http://www.stanleyfoundation.org/articles.cfm?ID=504), under the title: “Brazil's Candidacy for Major Power Status”, by Miguel Diaz and Paulo Roberto Almeida, with a reaction by Georges D. Landau (Muscatine, IA: The Stanley Foundation, Working Paper, November 2008, 24 p.; link: http://www.stanleyfoundation.org/powersandprinciples/BrazilCandidacyMPStatus.PDF). Published in book form as: “Brazil's Candidacy for Major Power Status”, with Miguel Diaz. In: Michael Schiffer and David Shorr (Eds.). Powers and Principles: International Leadership in a Shrinking World (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2009, 328p.; Co-published with: The Stanley Foundation; ISBN Cloth: 978-0-7391-3543-3; 85.00;ISBNPaper:978−0−7391−3544−0;85.00; ISBN Paper: 978-0-7391-3544-0; 85.00;ISBNPaper:9780739135440;32.95; p. 225-250;

The Decline in Brazil’s International Influence: From an Emerging Country to an Inward-Looking State

Austral: Brazilian Journal of Strategy and International Relations, 2020

Why has Brazil’s international influence subsided? From 2003 to 2014, Brazil fostered its socioeconomic development and pursued an assertive foreign policy that raised its international profile. Besides promoting regional integration, with Mercosur and UNASUR, Brazil played an important role in international coalitions such as the BRICS and the G 20. However, those initiatives have lost momentum from 2015 onwards. This paper aims to explain the decline in Brazil’s international influence. We hypothesize that Brazil’s politico-economic crisis, caused by domestic power struggles and international reaction to its ascent, has weakened its position as an emerging country. International systemic constraints are important, albeit not enough to account for such a setback. A comprehensive explanation needs to take in consideration both geopolitical factors and domestic power struggles.