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30 August 2010
GPPi fellow publishes paper on Brazil's foreign policy at the Center for Public Leadership in São Paulo
The Center for Public Leadership (CLP) in São Paulo has published a paper titled O desafio de tornar a política externa relevante para o Brasil, written by GPPi fellow Oliver Stuenkel and Luiz Felipe d'Ávila, president of the CLP. In English, the title reads The challenge to design a meaningful Brazilian foreign policy.
In the paper, published 20 August 2010, the authors encourage domestic debate about foreign policy, a topic that the general public in Brazil traditionally pays little attention to. This includes fundamental questions regarding Brazil’s national interest and sphere of influence. Evaluating the country's foreign policy under the Lula administration, the authors make specific recommendations for the next president, who will take office in January 2011.
D’Ávila and Stuenkel argue that despite President Lula's historic popularity, which can be explained by stable economic growth and large-scale cash transfer programs, Brazil's foreign policy has often been controversial, undermining its national interest. Brazil has failed to assume regional leadership, missing the opportunity to articulate and implement a vision of how to enhance regional integration in South America. Rather than taking the initiative, the Brazilian government has allowed Venezuela to assume a more prominent role and set the regional agenda. One of President Lula's latest projects, UNASUR (the Union of South American States) is rich in symbolism, yet far too inclusive to stand for anything meaningful. In a similar fashion, it remains unclear why Brazil fails to recognize the new government of Honduras. Brazil points to a lack of democratic legitimacy, yet it remains on good terms with Cuba, where elections are not as free as in Honduras. In the nuclear realm, Brazil has adopted a more confrontational posture, failing to support sanctions against Iran in the UN Security Council, but more importantly, not allowing IAEA's inspectors to access Brazilian nuclear facilities. Rather than helping Brazil defend its national interests, this behavior creates additional obstacles for Brazil to realize its principal foreign policy goal: a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
For more information, please contact Oliver Stuenkel.