"Ideological Repertoires of the Brazilian Foreign Policy toward Africa across three presidential administrations (1995-2016): from realism to south-south solidarity, and back "

Abstract

The article aims to identify the ideological repertoires mobilized by different presidential administrations in the context of the Brazilian foreign policy toward Africa from 1995 to 2016. The analysis of primary and secondary sources showed that Brazilian foreign policy toward Africa followed a general trend of ideological continuity. Brazilian foreign policy makers’ representations of Brazil – anchored on race, geography and material capabilities – and of Africa – framed through the lenses of solidarity, sentimentalism and pragmatism – changed only marginally. In addition, there was a consensus across administrations that “Africa cannot be ignored”. Change was mainly observed in the argumentative framework mobilized by the Lula da Silva administration (2003-2010). The Rousseff administration (2011-2016) enacted argument chains closer to those employed by the Cardoso administration (1995-2002). Both focused on a realist and creative approach to Africa and on the South Atlantic as a privileged area of cooperation. The Lula da Silva administration, in its turn, innovated by arguing that Brazil’s relations with African countries should be based on South-South solidarity, rather than caution and creativity, and by catapulting Africa as a whole to the top of Brazilian foreign policy agenda. According to the documents analyzed, these argumentative changes were mainly president-driven.