Multipolarity may suit Brazil’s preference for strategic flexibility and its claim to a greater global role – but the country faces difficult choices ahead when navigating great power competition.
Brazil’s strategic outlook is profoundly shaped by the confluence of the country’s size – it is the world’s fifth-largest country by area and boasts the seventh-largest population – and sense of vulnerability, the latter symbolized by its relatively limited military power, its proximity to the United States and its difficulties in controlling its 16,800 km-long borders, the world’s third-longest. This combination of factors explains both Brazil’s ambition to play a global role and its deep-seated concern about sovereignty and foreign interference – themes which have shaped Brazil’s worldview and foreign policy strategy since independence.
This vast territory and population, along with Brazil’s dominant position in South America and a profound awareness of its unique cultural identity – which encompasses Western, African and Indigenous influences, as well as large diasporas from the Middle East and Japan – all contribute to the belief among foreign policy elites that Brazil has a distinctive role to play on the international stage. This belief, often overlooked by foreign observers, is a shared trait between Brazil and the other BRICS127 founding members, who see themselves as natural contenders for a leading role in global affairs.
Brazil has tended to see international law, rules and norms, and multilateral institutions, as the best means to protect its interests. Its diplomatic corps has long prided itself on its capacity to ‘punch above its weight’ at multilateral forums such as the UN Security Council and the World Trade Organization (WTO). This tradition goes back to the early 20th century, when Brazil advocated for treaty-based multilateralism at the Second Hague Conference in 1907, standing…
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