The Political Economy of an Emerging Global Power

In Search of the Brazil Dream

L. Casanova, J. Kassum

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781137352354
• eBook ISBN: 9781137352361
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Development Economics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Is Brazil ready to take its place among the world's leading powers? The authors examine Brazil's hard power and soft power resources, assessing the challenges the country will need to overcome in order to build its own "Brazilian dream" and project itself on the international stage.

Part I

A Champion of Soft Power

1

A Friendly Giant

When giving speeches around the world, Brazilian leaders tirelessly make the point that Brazil is not just the country of football and carnival. Ironically, the country has never shied away from using its popular culture to project itself onto the global stage. Promoting the image of a friendly and peaceful nation – with fun-loving and welcoming people – goes to the heart of Brazil’s country-branding strategy, whether it seeks to gain influence in world affairs or to market its products in the global marketplace.

As discussed in the Introduction, what distinguishes Brazil’s rise in prominence from that of other emerging powers is its quasi-exclusive use of “soft power” to pursue its foreign policy goals, at least until recent years. According to political scientist Joseph Nye, soft power rests on the ability to shape the preferences of others. This ability tends to be associated with a country’s intangible assets, such as its culture, political values, institutions and policies, which are seen as legitimate or having moral authority (Nye, 2004). In the words of Paulo Sotero and Leslie Elliott Armijo (2007), “Brazil is the quintessential soft power BRIC.” By contrast, China and India derive much of their international stature from being nuclear powers. Turkey possesses the second largest army of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. For its part, Brazil has historically favored diplomacy and engagement over force or military threats, and has so far not joined the nuclear race. Since the Paraguayan war of 1864–1870, the country has lived peacefully with all of its ten neighbors. Brazil’s current Defense Minister, Celso Amorim, once described Brazil’s approach as “the use of culture and civilization, not threats [ . . . ] a belief in dialogue, not force”.¹

In February 2013, the Financial Times described Brazil as the “first big ‘soft’ power”, whose peaceful manners and laid-back attitude make it “a kind of Canada writ large but with Carnival thrown in”.² While Brazil’s growing economic weight, its renewed interest in defense matters, and its globally active multinational companies have boosted its hard power credentials in recent years, the country has thoughtfully cultivated the image of a “peaceful giant”, whose values, policies and culture generate attraction throughout the world.

This chapter offers an assessment of Brazil’s soft power capabilities, evaluating its strengths and weaknesses in an area that is seen as increasingly crucial to building global leadership. What are the bits and parts of the Brazilian culture, values and policies that together depict the comforting figure of a “friendly giant” in a world torn by geopolitical tensions, cultural divisions and social stress? What are the weak spots of Brazil’s soft power, and how could these affect the nation’s capacity to lead and attract others?

A warm and engaging popular culture

For Joseph Nye, one of the fundamental elements of a country’s soft power is its capacity to use culture as an instrument to seduce others and shape their preferences. Needless to say, the United States owes a lot of its influence to the global appeal of the “American Way of Life” fed on a daily basis by Hollywood movies and the country’s dynamic entertainment industry. Rising powers, such as China, India, Turkey and Brazil, have all awoken to the importance of leveraging their national culture to win people’s hearts and minds.

The good news for Brazilian leaders is that they are starting from a very strong position. The country already derives significant goodwill from its popular culture and attractive lifestyle. In a global survey of 30,000 persons across 15 countries, conducted by the social networking site Badoo.com, Brazil was voted the second “coolest nationality” in the world after the United States. Brazilian music, a key vector of its coolness, is generally associated with Samba and Bossa Nova. Somewhat surprisingly, the latest global hit was brought about by the boom of “Sertanejo Universitário”, a sub-set of Brazilian country music popularized by the 30-year-old singer Michel Teló. His videosingle Ai se eu te pego received more than 500 million views on YouTube from July 2011 to September 2013, making it the tenth most watched video of all time on the video-sharing platform. The song ranked number one in at least nine European countries and was especially popular in Spain and within the Latino community in the United States.

The international appeal of Brazilian popular culture is a particularly relevant component of Brazil’s soft power resources, since the values surrounding most Brazilian cultural products are largely positive and engaging – a perfect echo of Brazil’s projection as a warm and cooperative nation. A good example is the country’s most famous brand, Havaianas, the colorful rubber and plastic flip-flops that are now sold in 80 countries and have become a symbol of the Brazilian lifestyle. Another powerful vector of Brazilian culture is capoeira, a martial art combining dance, music and spirituality, that was created by African slaves in Brazil nearly 500 years ago as a means of self-defense and emancipation. It is now a popular sport among young people from all over the world, especially in large urban centers. ABADÁ, the Brazilian Association for the Support and Development of the Art of Capoeira, is present in over 30 countries and a countless number of self-organized capoeira groups have set up shop in New York, Moscow, Jakarta, Beirut and other cultural capitals of the world.

Brazil is also famous for its telenovelas, which attract millions of viewers every night. Their impact goes far beyond Brazil. More than 130 telenovelas have been broadcast in 170 countries, including the United States, China and South Africa. Most of these serial melodramas were created and produced by Brazil’s largest television network, Rede Globo, whose international channel, TV Globo Internacional is present in 118 countries. “There is no doubt that telenovelas are a key element of our country’s soft power”, said Maria Immacolata Vassallo de Lopes, from the School of Communications of the University of São Paulo.³ Six months after being sold on the international market, the popular hit and social phenomenon, Avenida Brasil has become the most licensed telenovela in the history of Brazilian television. It has been dubbed in 14 languages and broadcast in more than 105 countries. It broke the previous record held by Da Cor do Pecado, which sold in 100 countries.

Paulo Coelho’s best-sellers provide another example of Brazil’s successful cultural exports. The novelist is one of today’s most widely read authors. With over 65 million copies sold worldwide, his most famous work The Alchemist has been translated into 67 languages and published in more than 150 countries. Paulo Coelho, who is taken more seriously abroad than in his home country, was designated as a “United Nations Messenger of Peace” in September 2007.

A potential trap for Brazil is to let its popular culture, however appealing it may be, overshadow the richness and variety of its wider cultural scene. In the fields of architecture and plastic arts, for example, Brazilian culture enjoys a reputation for prestige and sophistication. Oscar Niemeyer, whose work and influence has shaped the most iconic buildings of Brasília, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte, is widely considered as a visionary of modern architecture. The São Paulo Fashion Week, held semi-annually, is said to be the fifth largest in the world, after Paris, Milan, London and New York. Brazil’s contemporary art scene has also gained a worldwide reputation, thanks to artists like Cildo Meireles, Ernesto Neto, Adriana Varejão and a generous system of corporate tax rebates for cultural sponsorships. As Matthew Slotover, co-director of London’s annual Frieze Art Fair, once commented to The Guardian newspaper: “I’ve been to Russia, China and Brazil in the last few years and Brazil is the most interesting one of the BRIC⁴ countries.”⁵

In a recent series of articles on Brazil’s soft power, BBC Brasil echoed the growing sentiment among Brazilian artists and policymakers that the country could adopt a more coordinated approach to promoting its culture abroad. Singer Gilberto Gil, former minister of culture, even thinks that Brazil has been neglecting culture as its economic and political profile has grown. “Since Brazil is becoming more powerful and vocal, its soft power has to grow at the same proportion as hard power,” he said, adding that Brazilian cinema, plastic arts and music needed greater institutional support.⁶ A better coordination of public and private initiatives in the areas of trade, technology, tourism and culture could indeed have a multiplier effect.

To promote their national culture, and to foster people-to-people exchanges, many governments have devoted growing resources to developing worldwide networks of state-funded cultural organizations. The Alliance Française, the British Council, Germany’s Goethe Institut and Spain’s Cervantes Institute, to name a few, have all established a solid presence across continents. Rising states are starting to follow suit, sometimes with impressive results. In just nine years, China’s Confucius Institutes have opened 833 centers in 104 countries and regions. The Indian Council for Cultural Relations has established 35 cultural centers in different parts of the world, including one in São Paulo, and it is planning to open 15 more. According to a 2013 report by the British Council, the network of Brazilian cultural institutes remains under-developed, with only 29 offices, mainly in Latin America. However, as highlighted by the report, the promotion of culture will be increasingly led by non-governmental initiatives. The British Council cites Braziliality, a London-based non-profit organization that promotes “Brazilian artists abroad and international artists that have an artistic dialogue with Brazil, creating a 360 degree view of the influence of contemporary Brazilian art and culture worldwide.”⁷

How hot is the “Brazil brand?”

Developing a strong country brand, sometimes called nationbranding, is especially important for emerging economies, whose local brands do not yet enjoy the powerful recognition of the Nestlés, Googles and Coca-Colas of this world. Beyond its marketing benefits, the strength of a country brand is a natural form of currency through which nations can exert influence and gain market power.

Using quantitative data and expert opinions to assess the qualities people associate with different nations, the consultancy FutureBrand created a Country Brand Index, which has become a global reference in the marketing industry. According to the 2012–2013 edition of the index, Brazil does not qualify as one of the world’s top 25 country brands. Switzerland, Canada and Japan hold the first three spots. However, Brazil’s rank of 28th makes it a indisputable leader in the emerging-market category, ahead of India (42nd), South Africa (43rd), Turkey (45th), China (66th) and Russia (83rd).⁸

For FutureBrand, Brazil’s main assets are “steady economic growth, a burgeoning middle class and growing consumer demand, a geography rich in natural resources and beauty and a proactive government eager to play an important regional and international role”. However, the report notes that “Brazilian authorities face a major and impossible-to-ignore obstacle: equality and human development.”

In 2013, a special edition of the Country Brand Index took a closer look at the performance of country brands across Latin America. The results are particularly flattering for Brazil, which takes the leading spot, ahead of Argentina and Costa Rica. Based on hard data and interviews with residents, investors, tourists and government officials, Brazil receives top marks in technology, investment climate, shopping, nightlife, and culture and arts. The country gets its lowest scores in the “quality of life” sub-category, notably due to below-average rankings in education, healthcare and safety.⁹

A country with 21st-century values and policies

The soft power of a country is not only defined by the popularity and prestige of its culture. According to Joseph Nye, it also rests on two other key resources: its political values (when it lives up to them at home and abroad) and its foreign policies (when they are seen as legitimate and having moral authority). Here again, Brazil holds strong credentials, which it was able to develop by turning its main weakness – its position as a developing economy with huge societal challenges – into a major strength. As highlighted by Ana Prusa, “it is often Brazil’s frankness in acknowledging that it faces serious challenges – the same challenges facing many countries in the developing world, from improving the quality of education to stimulating innovation and entrepreneurship – that gives Brazil so much credibility as a spokesperson from the developing world”. The internal challenges that could potentially undermine the country’s soft power have become instead a “source of legitimacy” (Prusa, 2011).

Using its own domestic experience, Brazil has managed to establish itself as a leading voice, and even a role model, in defending what Celso Amorim has called “a worldview that accords pride of place to the values of democracy, social justice, economic development, and environmental protection”.¹⁰ The country has made special efforts to project its value system and share its experience in several areas that have emerged as major global challenges for the 21st century.

Celebrating ethnic and cultural diversity

A key element of Brazil’s global projection is its very nature as a multicultural nation with a strong attachment to racial diversity. About half of the Brazilian population is classified as either black or of mixed raced. Most Brazilians are descendants of indigenous peoples, Portuguese settlers, African slaves, and immigrants from Europe, the Middle East and Asia who arrived from the 19th century onwards. Home to the largest Lebanese community in the world, Brazil prides itself on being the second-largest Italian and Japanese nation. To reflect its active policy of inclusion and tolerance toward cultural diversity, the federal government of Brazil employed um país de todos (“a country of all”) as its official slogan for many years. Brasília frequently refers to this national ideal when portraying Brazil as a potential enabler to revive the Israel-Palestine peace process. President Lula boldly summed it up in an interview to Israeli newspaper Haaretz: “More than 120,000 Jews live here in full harmony with 10 million Arabs. It would seem that people can learn from us.”¹¹

A global green leader

Brazil is far from having a clean environmental record. The country has reacted to this by positioning itself at the leading edge of global environmental governance. In 1992, it hosted the historical UN Earth Summit in Rio. In 2009, a few days after the closure of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, then-President Lula incorporated into law an ambitious National Climate Change Policy through which Brazil voluntarily committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 36% from “business as usual” levels by 2020.¹² In 2012, Brazil hosted the Rio + 20 Earth Summit, the biggest UN event ever organized, with over 45,000 participants. While the event was a success in terms of participation, environmental groups have criticized Brazilian diplomats for being more interested in cutting a deal at all costs (so as to improve its standing as a “global facilitator”) than in actually saving the environment. Still, Brazil’s recent success in reducing deforestation rates in the Amazon area, as well as its position as a world leader in renewable energies, has strengthened its standing as one of the most eco-conscious emerging powers.

Battling against hunger

In May 2010, the World Food Programme (WFP – the food assistance branch of the United Nations) honored former President Lula as a “Global Champion in the Battle Against Hunger” in recognition of his leadership in eradicating hunger and child malnutrition in Brazil and abroad. While visiting a small farm near Brasília to learn about the country’s Zero Hunger (Fome Zero) strategy, former WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said that Brazil was an example to follow. The program, which inspired the launch of the “Zero Hunger Challenge” by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the Rio + 20 Earth Summit of 2012, combines technical support for small-scale farmers, incentives to increase school attendance, food education initiatives, and the creation of subsidized restaurants for low-income populations.¹³ As Sheeran noted, “Brazil has a wealth of experience that can be shared with governments eager to learn how they achieved that success and adapt it to their own countries.”¹⁴ Through the Center for Excellence Against Hunger, Brazil and the WFP have helped governments in African, Latin American and Caribbean countries run their school meal programs.

From aid recipient to donor

Traditionally an aid recipient, Brazil is slowly establishing itself as a global aid donor. According to the governmental think-tank IPEA, annual international assistance of all types totaled US$158 million in 2005 and doubled to US$362 million in 2009.¹⁵ Part of Brazil’s technical assistance activities are coordinated by the Brazilian Agency of Cooperation (Agência Brasileira de Cooperação – ABC), which was originally established in 1987 to ch...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
• Introduction: Brazil at a Crossroads
• Part I: A Champion of Soft Power
• Part II: A Hard Power Nation in the Making
• Part III: What Will Propel Brazil Forward?
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index