Search results
internationally, leaving a vacation in Rio de Janeiro or Carnaval in Salvador as the annual break. Put more prosaically, just as English is a near-necessity for easy travel by a foreigner in the US, life in Brazil without some basic Portuguese can be almost impossible – Spanish is not a substitute. It is thus not too surprising to find that until recently foreign policy has remained something of an esoteric pursuit undertaken by an isolated group of specialists, most of whom could be found inside the Itamaraty Palace. Indeed, the 2014 presidential election debates in Brazil
This book contributes to the construction of an integrated analysis of Brazilian foreign policy by focusing on the country's insertion into both the regional and global system over the roughly twenty-five years through to the end of Dilma's first term as president in 2014. An attempt is made to order the discussion through exploration of a series of themes, which are further broken down into key component parts. The first section presents the context, with chapters on institutional structures and the tactical behaviours exhibited by the country's diplomacy, which will be used to guide the analysis in subsequent chapters. The second focuses on issues, taking in trade policies, the rise of Brazilian foreign direct investment, security policy and multilateralism. Key relationships are covered in the final section, encompassing Latin America, the Global South, the US and China. A central contradiction is the clear sense that Brazilian foreign policy makers want to position their country as leader, but are almost pathologically averse to explicitly stating this role or accepting the implicit responsibilities. The recurrent theme is the rising confusion about what Brazil's international identity is, what it should be, and what this means Brazil can and should do. A repeated point made is that foreign policy is an important and often overloooked aspect of domestic policies. The Dilma presidency does hold an important place in the analytical narrative of this book, particularly with respect to the chapters on trade, Brazil Inc., security policy and bilateral relations with the US and China.
A long-standing, self-deprecating joke in Brazil runs as follows: ‘Brazil is the country of the future, and always will be.’ Although ambitions of global importance and international influence are not new to Brazilian foreign policy, the capacity and credibility to realize these dreams have until recently been absent. Whether it be Brazil’s relative geographic isolation from the main US–Europe axis of power, a lack of industrial capacity in the first half of the twentieth century, financial disaster in the 1980s and 1990s, or a generalized lack of military
The argument made in this book is relatively simple in nature, but one that is counter-intuitive to first inclinations when analysing a country’s foreign policy. Simply put, the point I have sought to make is that Brazilian foreign policy is primarily concerned with questions of structural power, not relative power. Brazil is not seeking power over other states or regional dominance simply to enforce its own will. Instead, the focus is on influencing a deeper and more profound type of power, an effort which seeks to embed Brazilian interests in the very fabric
A major theme running through this book is the sense of tension between Brazil and the US that periodically arises across a range of policy areas. Indeed, much of Brazilian foreign policy can be read as an explicit attempt to assert autonomy from the US, reflecting the reality that in no other area is the distinction between relational power and structural power so important for gaining analytical insight as the case of Brazil–US bilateral relations. Although this line of argumentation overlooks the enormous degree of pragmatic cooperation between the two
powerful foreign policy bureaucracy. The French Foreign Affairs Ministry comprises a vast, extensive network of career diplomats and diplomatic representations, second only to that of the US in global coverage. The foreign affairs and defence ministers are actively involved in foreign policy, as is the prime minister (for example Edouard Philippe under Macron). But the French president incarnates French foreign policy grandeur more than any of his European counterparts or other potential domestic rivals, a point repeatedly made in presidential memoirs (most recently
members, plus vacuous statements on wider global issues. The spheres of foreign policy In his perceptive book Between Europe and America , Andrew Gamble (2003, pp. 30–4) recalls Churchill’s 1946 invocation of Britain being at the touching point of three spheres: the British Empire; Anglo-America and Europe. Gamble suggests that ‘Britain’ should now be seen as a ‘union’ of its devolved constituent parts. There were at least three areas in which postwar British foreign policy could invest its emphasis, often represented by three spheres: Europe, America and the
integrated development found in Europe and North America. In this context government and foreign policy had an important role to play not only as financier through institutions such as the BNDES, but also as door opener and match maker for businesses contemplating outward expansion of their activities. As this chapter will explain, the concerns of both the left and right were misplaced. Through a clever jeitinho , privatization divested the Brazilian state of direct ownership, but not control over many important national industrial champions. A complex web of
Perhaps one of the most consistent themes in Brazilian foreign policy over the last century has been the drive for a seat at the main global governance decision making tables. Whether it be the Versailles Palace talks after World War One, the San Francisco discussions leading to the United Nations system or negotiations in countless international forums such as the Food and Agriculture Organization, GATT/WTO, or World Health Organization, Brazilian diplomats have devoted enormous efforts to ensuring they are given space to be active participants. This has
assistance over an extended period of time requiring a level of empathy with others, and an understanding of their position and priorities. It can also lead to the rise of parallel informal institutions and practices, which quietly step around obstacles with the slick dexterity of a striker streaking towards goal on the soccer pitch (Matta, 1984 ). A basic understanding of the jeitinho is an important building block for grappling with the practical realities of Brazilian diplomacy and foreign policy as it engages in its agenda of challenging structural power realities