Daniel Flemes

O Brasil na iniciativa BRIC: soft balancing numa ordem global em mudança?

The foreign policy options of Brazil are limited in view of the superior hard power of the established great powers. Brazils soft balancing strategy involves institutional strategies such as the formation of limited diplomatic coalitions or ententes, such as BRIC, to constrain the power of the established great powers. The BRIC states have been amongst the most powerful drivers of incremental change in world diplomacy and they benefit most from the connected global power shifts. In a global order shaped by great powers through international institutions, those players who effectively operate within them as innovators, coalition builders and spokesmen while preserving great amounts of sovereignty and independence have the potential to substantially influence the outcomes of future global politics.The foreign policy options of Brazil are limited in view of the superior hard power of the established great powers. Brazils soft balancing strategy involves institutional strategies such as the formation of limited diplomatic coalitions or ententes, such as BRIC, to constrain the power of the established great powers. The BRIC states have been amongst the most powerful drivers of incremental change in world diplomacy and they benefit most from the connected global power shifts. In a global order shaped by great powers through international institutions, those players who effectively operate within them as innovators, coalition builders and spokesmen while preserving great amounts of sovereignty and independence have the potential to substantially influence the outcomes of future global politics.

Regional Power South Africa: Co-operative Hegemony Constrained by Historical Legacy

Abstract This article argues that regional powers can be distinguished by four pivotal criteria: claim to leadership, power resources, employment of foreign policy instruments, and acceptance of leadership. Applying these criteria to the South African case, the crucial significance of institutional foreign policy instruments for the power over policy outcomes at the regional and global level is demonstrated. But although Pretoria is ready to pay the costs of co-operative hegemony (capacity building for regional institutions and peacekeeping for instance), the regional acceptance of South African leadership is constrained by its historical legacy. Additionally Pretorias foreign policy is based on ideational resources such as its reputation as an advocate of democracy and human rights and its paradigmatic behaviour as a ‘good global citizen’ with the according legitimacy. The Mbeki presidency was more successful in converting these resources into discursive instruments of interest-assertion in global, than in regional bargains. In effect the regional powers reformist south-oriented multilateralism is challenging some of the guiding principles of the current international system.

Conceptualising Regional Power in International Relations: Lessons from the South African Case

Regional powers can be distinguished by four pivotal criteria: claim to leadership, power resources, employment of foreign policy instruments, and acceptance of leadership. Applying these indicators to the South African case, the analysis demonstrates the crucial significance of institutional foreign policy instruments. But although the South African government is ready to pay the costs of co-operative hegemony (such as capacity building for regional institutions and peacekeeping), the regional acceptance of South Africa’s leadership is constrained by its historical legacy. Additionally, Pretoria’s foreign policy is based on ideational resources such as its reputation as an advocate of democracy and human rights and the legitimacy derived from its paradigmatic behaviour as a ‘good global citizen’. However, the Mbeki presidency is more successful in converting these resources into discursive instruments of interest-assertion in global, rather than in regional bargains. In effect the regional power’s reformist South-oriented multilateralism is challenging some of the guiding principles of the current international system.

India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) in the New Global Order

A question of interest to scholars of International Politics concerns the manner in which weaker states attempt to influence stronger ones. This article offers a case study of one recent exercise in coalition-building among southern powers as a vehicle for change in international relations. It analyzes the global interests, strategies and values of India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) and the impact of the IBSA Dialogue Forum on the global order. Five major points are outlined. First, common ideas and values shape the global discourse of the emerging coalition. Second, soft balancing based on a value-driven middle power discourse is a suitable concept to explain IBSA’s strategy in global institutions. Third, institutional foreign policy instruments such as agenda-setting and coalition-building are pivotal elements of IBSA’s soft balancing approach. Fourth, the trilateral coalition suffers from considerable divergence of interest in global governance issues and limited potential gains of its sectoral cooperation, particularly in trade, due to a lack of complementarities of the participating economies. Finally, despite these obstacles the IBSA Forum has impacted the global order in recent years as a powerful driver for change. India, Brazil and South Africa have contributed to an incremental global power shift in their favour. The southern coalition also induced a change in the character of multilateralism and, in particular, its procedural values.

Brazilian foreign policy in the changing world order

In the practice of international relations, states can pursue different combinations of foreign policy strategies at different systemic levels. The positions of Southern regional powers such as Brazil, on the one hand, between the centre and periphery of the current world system and, on the other hand, at the nexus of international and regional politics, demand particularly complex foreign policy strategies. Strategic approaches have to consider at least three contextual factors: firstly, the continuing superiority of established (the United States) and emerging (China) global actors in terms of material power; secondly, the fact that regional and global affairs are increasingly interrelated; and thirdly, the fact that foreign policy strategies are mapped out against the background of an international system moving from a unipolar to a multipolar order. I argue that Southern regions and their leaders will play a pivotal part in the course of that global transformation as well as in the future world order. The purpose of this paper is to discuss Brazils strategic foreign policy options after unipolarity. To approach this task, a top-down approach starting at the global level seems most promising. First, I will discuss the potential transformation of the international system and the middle-power role of Brazil in the course of that process, especially with regard to its role in the G3, or India, Brazil and South Africa. Second, I will locate Brazil in its region, analyse its relations with secondary power Venezuela, and ask for strategic options at the regional level. Third, the conclusion will stress the increasing interrelatedness of global and regional affairs, pointing out strategies applied by Brazil in order to become a decision maker in a future multipolar world.

Brazil's vision of the future global order

This article aims to unfold the Brazilian conception of the future global order located between the extreme poles of a concert of great powers and a multiregional world order. The author demonstrates how Brazilian foreign policy makers contribute to the kind of global order, which offers most room to manoeuvre to the rising power. The foreign policy options of Brazil are limited in view of the superior hard power of the established great powers. Brazils soft balancing strategy involves institutional strategies such as the formation of limited diplomatic coalitions or ententes to constrain the power of the established great powers. Brazil has been amongst the most powerful drivers of incremental change in world diplomacy and it benefits most from the connected global power shifts. In a global order shaped by great powers through international groupings and institutions, those players who effectively operate within them as innovators, coalition builders and spokesmen while preserving great amounts of sovereignty and autonomy have the potential to substantially influence the outcomes of future global politics.

Potências emergentes na ordem de redes: o caso do Brasil

In the past decade, change and innovation have been induced through intergovernmental foreign policy networks. New powers like Brazil have gained relative weight due to their status as agenda-setters, brokers, and coalition-builders. This paper examines the relevance of different foreign policy networks such as India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) and Brazil-South Africa-India-China (BASIC) for the Brazilian foreign policy since 2003.

Introduction: Regional powers in contest and engagement: making sense of international relations in a globalised world

The global order is yet again in the throes of a fundamental transformation. Not many would have imagined that this would be the case a mere 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In those heady days following the collapse of the Soviet Union, many scholars imagined that the world was at ‘the end of history’, and that the arrival of the unipolar world with the United States at its helm would continue for decades if not centuries. But after a mere decade there were already signs that the United States may have overstretched itself. By 2008, the credit binge of US citizens and the ideological fundamentalism of its political leadership had greatly eroded the fiscal foundation of its economy and its standing in the world arena. Two wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan, its militarist posture, and the diplomatic ineptitude of the Bush administration had overstretched the superpower’s military capabilities and depleted its international political capital, prompting the rise of multiple competitors. The relative and perceived decline of American hegemony has prompted a flurry of studies on Russia, India and China, on regional blocs like the EU, on middle powers, and more recently on regional powers. Thus the question arises, is it necessary to study regional powers as a specific category of states? After all, there have been many studies of the foreign policies of these and other countries. Moreover, there have been studies of the category of states that has come to be referred to as middle powers which include not only industrialised countries like Canada and Norway, but also many of the states now referred to as regional powers Brazil, India, Mexico, and South Africa, among others. Is specific study of these countries as regional powers necessary?

Regional Leadership and Contestation: Strategic Reactions to the Rise of the BRICS

How do rising regional powers translate regional military dominance or economic superiority into political leadership, and how do secondary regional powers respond? The chapter addresses these questions in four steps. First, it discusses the evolving International Relations (IR) Security Studies scholarship on contested leadership and identifies the research gaps of regional void, conceptual ambiguity, structural bias, and inattention to change in this literature. Second, it defines primary and secondary regional powers and develops a concept of contested leadership. Third, it outlines how the volume’s individual chapters address the research gaps. Finally, it compares their findings and joint contributions to the broader study of contested leadership in IR.

Colombian Foreign Policy: Contestation by Institution Building

Brazil has launched a regional leadership project in South America to strengthen its global position, yet secondary regional powers have contested it through diverse means and to different ends. Among these secondary regional powers, Colombia represents a case of institutional contestation. In this chapter, Flemes and Castro address how Colombia has deployed institutional contestation in relation to Brazil, especially in the context of Colombia’s new international identity and the creation of the Pacific Alliance. The authors examine the impact of the latest political and structural changes that South America is undergoing—the decline of leftist populism in South America and the downgrading of former secondary powers such as Venezuela—on Colombia’s contestation approach. Finally, they identify the main drivers that have influenced the variations in its contestation approach.