International Politics and Brazilian Foreign Policy
Concepts
Know realism, liberalism, constructivism, and the levels of analysis (system, state, individual). Understand soft power, multilateralism, and autonomia pela diversificação versus autonomia pela participação.
Brazilian trajectory
From Rio Branco (1902–12, peaceful settlement, americanismo) to Política Externa Independente (1961), pragmatismo ecumênico (1974), autonomia pela distância (1980s), and Lula-era autonomia pela diversificação (South-South coalitions, BRICS, G-20). Traps: attributing PEI to Rio Branco, or claiming Brazil joined the Non-Aligned Movement formally.
Institutions
UN (Security Council reform: G4), WTO, IMF, World Bank, Mercosul (1991 Treaty of Asunción), UNASUL, CELAC, BRICS, OECD accession process, and climate regime (Rio-92, Kyoto, Paris).
Traps
Items often invert Brazil's positions: Brazil recognizes the right to development, defends non-intervention with nuance (responsibility while protecting), and supports South-South cooperation without conditionality.
Worked example
Asked which concept best describes Brazil's strategy of expanding partners to reduce vulnerability, the answer is autonomia pela diversificação, not autonomia pela distância.