Brazil, Think Tanks, and the International System: A Discourse Analysis

Abstract

With the arrival of the Worker’s Party to power in 2003, Brazil engaged in an expansion of its international political participation through the BRICS, IBAS, and other multilateral forums. United States-based think tanks noticed this heightened engagement and subsequently produced a considerable volume of research about Brazilian foreign policy. This article employs discourse analysis as its research method, as well as post-structuralist and post-colonial theoretical approaches, to understand the representation that Brookings and CFR publications crafted about Brazil as an “emerging” or “rising” power. Specifically, we argue that Brazil was typically portrayed in a positive light. However, this constitution was based on hierarchical and racialized thinking that seeks to reaffirm preexisting global power relations.