Brazil’s International Rise in the Twenty-First Century: Ambitions and Difficulties

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The overall purpose of this chapter is to present the diplomatic strategies that have allowed Brazil to be recognized as a leading nation in the twenty-first century. Generally, the chapter analyzes the country’s use of soft power (Nye, J.S. 2004. Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics. New York: Public Affairs; Nye, J.S. 2006. Think Again: Soft Power. Foreign Policy, February 23. Accessed August 3, 2015. http://foreignpolicy.com/2006/02/23/think-again-soft-power ), not only as a means to perform a protagonist role in the international system, but also as a platform through which the state might proactively advance its diplomatic ambitions. Brazil’s soft power is presented as deriving from its historic diplomacy, its status as a representative of the global south (“the other”), its domestic policies and cultural heritage, as well as its projection of itself as of inevitable relevance in the international arena. Diplomacy and foreign policy are approached here as being the result of the increasing democratization of Brazilian society, epitomized by the election of the populist “Lula” in 2003 and his unambiguous linking of foreign and domestic policies, with the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs holding historical exceptional influence in decision-making until recently. Post-Lula, however, Brazil’s diplomacy has suffered not only because President Rousseff is less engaged in international affairs than Lula was, but also because Brazil has entered a period of economic decline and societal disaffection.