Brazil’s government has historically engaged with other developing countries to promote technical cooperation. Since the 1988 federal Constitution, different presidents have paid attention to this foreign policy agenda. However, it was particularly under the Workers’ Party’s administrations (2003–2016) that South-South cooperation (SSC) gained political ground, rooted in official principles of South-South solidarity, horizontality, non-interference in domestic affairs, and the defence of a multipolar world-vision. In this article, based on the argument that international development cooperation (IDC) is a key instrument of a country’s economic diplomacy, we analyse the perceptions of Brazilian diplomats about SSC in order to understand Brazil’s interests and motivations in this field. Methodologically, the article discusses the main results of a survey conducted between 25 August and 23 September 2016 among 349 Brazilian individuals, who correspond to approximately 22 per cent of Brazil’s active diplomats. The survey results showed that Brazilian diplomats generally have a favourable perception on Brazil’s SSC programmes, and that a great majority of them has already acted in SSC activities. Still, the issue of political conditionality brings in cleavages, indicating that there is a large group of Brazilian diplomats who openly support SSC as an instrument of national interests and not because of the official narratives related to a ‘solidarity with the South’ or ‘the promotion of human rights’. As a consequence, with the exception of perceptions on political conditionalities and economic criteria, the majority of diplomats share commonalities that also correspond to the government’s official rhetoric between 2003 and 2016. This article is structured around the following three sections: (1) South-South cooperation as a foreign policy agenda, (2) Diplomats as agents of Brazil’s South-South cooperation and (3) Presenting and discussing the perceptions of Brazilian diplomats.
Resumo: Refletimos sobre a atual política externa brasileira a partir da constatação da sua diversificação em termos de agendas e atores. A pluralização de atores ocorre tanto no âmbito burocrático (fragilizando a tradicional primazia do Itamaraty) como na diversidade de atores não estatais (mídia, ONGs, empresários, etc.). Com a internacionalização da vida cotidiana, surgem novas demandas a respeito da agenda internacional, pressionando por novas dinâmicas nas práticas da política externa. Defendese que a política externa é uma política pública que, guardando sua especificidade, deve ser analisada como as demais políticas públicas brasileiras. A proposta de um Conselho Nacional de Política Externa e a recente experiência do Comitê Brasileiro de Direitos Humanos e Política Externa são demonstrações da importância de se levar em consideração as dinâmicas domésticas para uma compreensão adequada da política externa brasileira contemporânea.Palavras-chave: política externa brasileira; análise de política externa; política pública.Abstract: This paper delves into the current Brazilian foreign policy based on the assumption of its diversification in terms both of its agenda and actors. The pluralization of actors occurs not only in the bureaucratic scope (weakening the traditional Itamaraty's primacy), but also with other players from civil society (such as the media, NGOs, the business sector, and others). With the internationalization of daily life, new demands regarding the international agenda emerge, pressing for new dynamics on the practices of foreign policy. We defend that foreign policy is a public policy that, considering its specificity, should be analyzed such as others Brazilians public policies. The proposal of a National Council on Foreign Affairs and the recent experience of the Human Rights and Foreign Affairs Brazilian Committee are examples of the importance of reflecting upon domestic dynamics as a path to a better understanding of Brazilian contemporary foreign policy.
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