Strategies and Tactics for Global Change: Democratic Brazil in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

Brazil has consistently been seeking a more influential place at global decision-making tables in order to preserve its sovereignty and protect its national policy autonomy. The challenge for Brazilian diplomats is that their country lacks the economic or military muscle to force a way onto these tables. Subtler avenues for inclusion are thus needed. Seven of the main tactics employed in Brazilian foreign policy are outlined here, and range from the defensive/passive (avoiding mindless opposition, collectivisation) through the neutral (consensus creation, technocratic speak) to the assertive (building new organisations, propagating new thinking) and finally to the aggressive (principled presidential righteousness).

Notes

*This paper was first presented at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies' 4^th Regional Powers Network Conference, Emerging Regional Powers and Global Redistribution, held at the Stellenbsoch Institute for Advanced Studies in 2010. The paper has benefited greatly from suggestions made by the other conference participants as well as the comments of the two anonymous referees for this journal.

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