South America's Emerging Power: Brazil as Peacekeeper

Abstract

This article assesses the utility of the notion of emerging powers in analysing key characteristics of Brazil's past and present policy towards peace operations. After decoupling emerging powers analytically from traditional middle powers, it addresses a series of political and behavioural factors specific to South America. Finally, the analysis identifies those elements derived from Brazil's emerging power status and South American identity that are of relevance in shaping the country's attitudes towards peace operations generally, and more specifically its participation in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). It reaches the conclusion that Brazil has acted as a model emerging power – in typically South American Fashion.

Notes

Adam Chapnick, ‘The Middle Power’, Canadian Foreign Policy, Vol.7, No.2, 1999, p.76; Eduard Jordaan, ‘The Concept of a Middle Power in International Relations: Distinguishing between Emerging and Traditional Middle Powers’, Politikon (Pretoria), Vol.30, No.2, 2003, p.166; David Black, ‘Addressing Apartheid: Lessons from Australian, Canadian and Swedish Policies in Southern Africa’, in Andrew Fenton Cooper (ed.), Niche Diplomacy: Middle Powers after the Cold War, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1997, p.103.

Jordaan (see n.1 above), p.166.

Andrew F. Cooper, Richard A. Higgott and Kim R. Nossal, Relocating Middle Powers: Australia and Canada in a Changing World Order, Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1993.

Carsten Holbraad, Middle Powers in International Politics, New York: St Martin's Press, 1984.

Robert Cox with Timothy Sinclair, Approaches to World Order, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996; Mark Neufeld, ‘Hegemony and Foreign Policy Analysis: The Case of Canada’, Studies in Political Economy, Vol.48, 1995, pp.7–29.

Jordaan (see n.1 above), p.166; see also S. Neil MacFarlane, ‘The “R” in BRICs: Is Russia an Emerging Power?’, International Affairs, Vol.82, No.1, 2006, p.42.

Chapnick (see n.1 above), p.75.

Ibid., p.74.

Ibid.

Ibid., pp.76–9.

Jordaan (see n.1 above), p.166.

Maxi Schoeman, ‘South Africa as an Emerging Middle Power: 1994–2003’, in John Daniel, Adam Habib and Roger Southall (eds), State of the Nation: South Africa 2003–2004, Cape Town: HSRC Press, 2003, p.350.

Cooper et al. (see n.3 above), p.19.

Jordaan (see n.1 above), p.167.

Robert Cox, ‘Middlepowermanship, Japan, and Future World Order’, International Journal, Vol.44, No.4, 1989, pp.826–7.

Ibid., p.827.

Janis van der Westhuizen, ‘South Africa's Emergence as a Middle Power’, Third World Quarterly, Vol.19, No.3, 1998, pp.437–8.

Laura Neack, ‘UN Peace-keeping: In the Interest of Community or Self?’, Journal of Peace Research, Vol.32, No.2, 1995, p.184.

Jordaan (see n.1 above), p.167.

Ibid., p.166.

Van der Westhuizen (see n.17 above), p.436.

Chapnick (see n.1 above), p.76.

Joseph S. Nye, ‘Soft Power’, Foreign Policy, No.80, 1990, pp.153–71; Joseph S. Nye, Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics, New York: Public Affairs, 2004; Joseph S. Nye, Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power, New York: Basic Books, 1990.

See International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, The Responsibility to Protect: Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, Ottawa: International Development Research Centre, 2001.

Cox (see n.15 above), p.824.

MacFarlane (see n.6 above), p.41.

Neack (see n.18 above).

Jordaan (see n.1 above), p.173.

Ibid., pp.171–3.

MacFarlane (see n.6 above), p.41.

Jordaan (see n.1 above), p.173.

Schoeman (see n.12 above), p.351.

Ibid., pp.353–4.

See the analyses in Daniel Flemes (ed.), Regional Leadership in the Global System: Ideas, Interests and Strategies of Regional Powers, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2010.

Stefan A. Schirm, ‘Leaders in Need of Followers: Emerging Powers in Global Governance’, European Journal of International Relations, Vol.16, No.2, pp.197–221.

Neack (see n.18 above). Neack uses the example of Australia's intervention in East Timor as a failed case of self-appointment.

Herfried Münkler, ‘Humanitäre militärische Interventionen: Eine politikwissenschaftliche Evaluation’ [Humanitarian Military Intervention: An Evaluation from the Perspective of Political Science], in Herfried Münkler and Karsten Malowitz (eds), Humanitäre Intervention: Ein Instrument außenpolitischer Konfliktbearbeitung. Grundlagen und Diskussion [Humanitarian Intervention: A Foreign Policy Instrument for Conflict Resolution. Principles and Discussion], Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2008, p.93.

Kai Michael Kenkel, ‘New Missions and Emerging Powers: Brazil, Peace Operations and MINUSTAH’, in Christian Leuprecht, Jodok Troy and David Last (eds), Mission Critical: Smaller Democracies' Role in Global Stability Operations, Montréal/Kingston, ON: McGill/Queen's University Press, forthcoming.

The renowned international jurist Christian Tomuschat specifically mentions both the momentum of the new intervention norms – arguing that there is no more ‘hiding behind the mantra of internal affairs’ – and the strength of this South American exception, considering it to possibly constitute a serious obstacle to the former's codification as customary law. Christian Tomuschat, ‘Humanitäre Intervention – ein trojanisches Pferd?’ [Humanitarian Intervention – a Trojan Horse?], in Münkler and Malowitz (see n.37 above), pp. 67, 80.

Kenkel (see n.38 above), p.5.

Monica Serrano, ‘Latin America: The Dilemmas of Intervention’, in Albrecht Schnabel and Ramesh Thakur (eds), Kosovo and the Challenge of Humanitarian Intervention: Selective Indignation, Collective Action, and International Citizenship, Tokyo: UN University Press, 2000, p.223.

Ibid., p.224.

David Pion-Berlin, ‘Latin American National Security Doctrines: Hard- and Softline Themes’, Armed Forces and Society, Vol.15, No.3, 1989, p.413. See also J. Samuel Fitch, The Armed Forces and Democracy in Latin America, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998, p.107.

Periods of military rule were: Argentina, 1966–83; Brazil, 1964–85; Chile, 1973–89; Paraguay, 1954–89; and Uruguay, 1973–85. See Herz in this issue and Kai Michael Kenkel, ‘Whispering to the Prince: Academic Experts and National Security Policy Formulation in Brazil, South Africa and Canada’, PhD thesis, Graduate Institute of International Studies, University of Geneva, 2005, at: www.unige.ch/cyberdocuments/theses2004/KenkelKM/meta.html, pp.75–136.

See Arturo Sotomayor Velázquez, ‘Why Some States Participate in UN Peace Missions while Others do not: An Analysis of Civil–Military Relations and its Effects on Latin America's Contributions to Peacekeeping Operations’, Security Studies, Vol.19, No.1, pp.160–95; Arturo Sotomayor Velázquez, ‘Different Paths and Divergent Policies in the UN Security System: Brazil and Mexico in Comparative Perspective’, International Peacekeeping, Vol.16, No.3, 2009, pp.364–78; Arturo Sotomayor Velázquez, ‘Unintended Consequences of Peace Operations for Troop-contributing Countries in South America: The Cases of Argentina and Uruguay’, in Chiyuki Aoi, Cedric de Coning and Ramesh Thakur (eds), Unintended Consequences of Peacekeeping Operations, Tokyo: UN University Press, 2007, pp.171–92.

Marina Malamud Feinsilber, ‘Latin America in Peacekeeping Operations: A Sociopolitical Overview’, in Giuseppe Caforio (ed.), Advances in Military Sociology: Essays in Honor of Charles C. Moskos, Bingley: Emerald Group, 2009, p.153.

John T. Fishel, ‘Latin America: Haiti and beyond’, in Donald C.F. Daniel, Patricia Taft and Sharon Wiharta (eds), Peace Operations: Trends, Progress, and Prospects, Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2008, pp.162–6.

William Perry, Contemporary Brazilian Foreign Policy: The International Strategy of an Emerging Power, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1976.

World Bank, ‘Gross Domestic Product 2009’, World Development Indicators, at: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DATASTATISTICS/Resources/GDP.pdf

UN Development Programme (UNDP), Human Development Report 2009, Overcoming Barriers: Human Mobility and Development, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, p.172, at: http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2009; UNDP, Human Development Report 1990. Concept of Measurement of Human Development, New York: Oxford University Press, 1990, p.129, at: http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr1990

On this point and its relevance to policy orientations, see Maria Regina Soares de Lima and Monica Hirst, ‘Brazil as an Intermediate State and Regional Power: Action, Choice and Responsibilities’, International Affairs, Vol.82, No.1, 2006, p.21.

On the effects of incomplete civilian control on Brazilian foreign policy, see also João Paulo Soares Alsina, Jr, ‘O poder militar como instrumento da política externa brasileira contemporânea’ [Military Power as an Instrument of Contemporary Brazilian Foreign Policy], Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional, Vol.52, No.2, 2009, p.185; João Roberto Martins Filho and Daniel Zirker, ‘The Brazilian Military under Cardoso: Overcoming the Identity Crisis’, Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs, Vol.42, No.3, 2000, pp.143–70.

On post-Cold War Brazilian security policy, including a section on peace operations, see the seminal analysis by Monica Herz and Paulo S. Wrobel, ‘A Política de Segurança no Pós-Guerra Fria’ [Security policy after the Cold War], in Clóvis Brigagão and Domício Proença, Jr (eds), Brasil e o Mundo: Novas Visões [Brazil and the World: New Visions], Rio de Janeiro: Francisco Alves, 2002, pp.255–318.

See, inter alia, Gustavo Sénéchal de Goffredo, Jr, Entre poder e direito: A tradição grotiana na política externa brasileira [Between Power and Law: The Grotian Tradition in Brazilian Foreign Policy], Brasília: Instituto Rio Branco/FUNAG, 2005; Celso Lafer, ‘O Significado de República’ [The Significance of the Republic], Estudos Históricos, Vol.2, No.4, 1989, pp.214–24, at: http://virtualbib.fgv.br/ojs/index.php/reh/article/view/2286/1425; Soares de Lima and Hirst (n.51 above), p.26.

Constitution of Brazil, at: www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/br00000_.html

See the analysis – based on the work of Brazilian jurist Luís Roberto Barroso – by Paulo Martino Zuccaro, ‘A participação das forças armadas brasileiras em operações de manutenção da paz como instrumento da política externa brasileira e seus reflexos para o Poder Naval’ [Brazilian armed forces' participation in peacekeeping operations as an instrument of Brazilian foreign policy and its effects on naval power], thesis, curso de políticue estratégia Marítimas [Marítime Policy and Strategy Course] Escola de Guerra Naval [Naval War College], Rio de Janeiro, 2005.

Brazilian policy is laid out in the 1996 and 2005 National Defence Policies, both of which mention peace operations without detail.

Interestingly, Jordaan points out that these mediation efforts are often contextually related to the stature of emerging power's leaders, as in the case of Nelson Mandela in South Africa and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil. See Jordaan (n.1 above), p.175.

See, inter alia, the seminal treatment by Eugênio Diniz, ‘Brazil: Peacekeeping and the Evolution of Foreign Policy’, in John T. Fishel and Andrés Saenz (eds), Capacity Building for Peacekeeping: The Case of Haiti, Washington, DC: National Defense University Press, 2007, pp.94–5.

Ibid., p.101.

Celso Amorim, ‘Conceitos de Segurança e Defesa – implicações para a ação interna e externa do governo [Concepts of Security and Defence – Implications for Internal and External Government Action], in J.R. de Almeida Pinto, A.J. Ramalho da Rocha and R. Doring Pinho da Silva (eds), Reflexões sobre defesa e segurança: uma estratégia para o Brasil [Reflections on Defence and Security: A Strategy for Brazil], Brasília: Ministry of Defence, 2004, p.141. On Brazil and R2P see Kai Michael Kenkel, ‘Global Player, or Sitting on the Fence? The “Responsibility to Protect”: Definition and Implications for Brazil’, Revista da Escola de Guerra Naval, No.12, 2008, at: www.egn.mar.mil.br/revistaegn

Ibid., p.140.

Brazil, Ministry of External Relations, ‘Statement by H. E. Ambassador Celso Amorim, Minister of External Relations of the Federative Republic of Brazil, at the Opening of the General Debate of the 60th Session of the United Nations General Assembly’, New York, 17 Sept. 2005, at: www.un.org/webcast/ga/60/statements/bra050917eng.pdf. See also Celso Amorim, ‘Discurso … da abertura do Seminário de Alto Nível sobre Operações de Manutenção da Paz, Brasília, 5 de fevereiro de 2007’ [Speech at the Opening of the High-Level Seminar on Peacekeeping Operations], in Resenha de Política Exterior do Brasil, No.100, 2007, pp.63–6.

On the issue of Brazilian self-perception and how it affects emerging-power indicators such as status-seeking mediation and foreign policy priorities, see Lamia Oualalou, ‘Brasília oublie le “complexe du chien bâtard”’ [Brazil Overcomes its ‘Mongrel Complex’], Le monde diplomatique (Paris), Jan. 2010, p.17.

For analysis of broader themes of Brazilian foreign policy, see Soares de Lima and Hirst (n.51 above), and for detailed analysis of regional politics see Danilo Marcondes de Souza Neto, ‘A participação e a cooperação entre os países do Cone Sul em operações de paz: o caso da MINUSTAH’ [Participation and Cooperation between Southern Cone Countries in Peace Operations: The Case of MINUSTAH], in Eduardo Svartman, Maria Celina D'Araujo and Samuel Alves Soares (eds), Defesa, Segurança Internacional e Forças Armadas [Defence, International Security and Armed Forces], Campinas: Mercado de Letras, 2009, pp.169–98 (specifically related to peace operations).

See, e.g., Gisele Lennon de Albuquerque Lima e Figueiredo Lins, ‘A (des)articulação entre o Ministério da Defesa e o Ministério das Relações Exteriores na MINUSTAH’ [The (Dis)Connection between the Ministries of Defence and External Relations in MINUSTAH], MA thesis, Political Science Department, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, 2007.

See Alsina (see n.52 above), pp.173,184.

Diniz (see n.59 above), pp.102–4.

On Brazilian participation in peace operations, the (now somewhat dated) empirical works of reference in Brazil are: Paulo Roberto Campos Tarrisse da Fontoura, O Brasil e as Operações de Manutenção da Paz das Nações Unidas [Brazil and United Nations Peace Operations], Brasília: FUNAG, 1999; Afonso José Sena Cardoso, O Brasil nas Operações de Paz das Nações Unidas [Brazil in the Peace Operations of the United Nations], Brasília: FUNAG, 1998; Diniz (see n.59 above).

The author witnessed this phenomenon while accompanying Brazilian foot patrols in Port-au-Prince in February and March 2009, and confirmed an overall positive image of the country's troops among numerous Haitian interlocutors.

Laura Neack, ‘Middle Powers Once Removed: The Diminished Global Role of Middle Powers and American Grand Strategy’, paper presented at 41st Annual Convention of the International Studies Association, Los Angeles, CA, 14–18 March 2000, at: www.ciaonet.org/isa/nal01

On the efficacy of peacekeeping efforts strongly motivated by nationalism, see Daniel Blocq, ‘Western Soldiers and Protection of Local Civilians in UN Peacekeeping Operations: Is a Nationalist Orientation in the Armed Forces Hindering Our Preparedness to Fight?’, Armed Forces and Society, Vol.36, No.2, 2010, pp.290–309.