Глава II. Африканская политика стран-членов брикс

1. Современная политика Бразилии в Африке (2003–2012)

Contemporary Brazilian foreign policy in Africa (2003–2012)

The African continent has become the region that has attracted the most interest on the part of emerging powers as these countries seek markets, resources and political allies. While considerable attention has been given to Indian and Chinese engagement in Africa, less attention is dedicated to contemplating Brazil’s role in the continent, and therefore, the present contribution wishes to address this gap by looking at contemporary Brazilian foreign policy towards Africa, from the government of President Lula da Silva (2003-2010) up until the first two years of the current administration by President Dilma Rousseff (2010-ongoing).

Brazil benefits from several different identity labels in its interaction with Africa: as a developing, South Atlantic, Portuguese-speaking nation, and these different identity labels will be contemplated in the analysis that follows. Brazil’s current engagement with the continent is not a new strategy by Brazilian diplomacy, but reflects a perception that was already present in the country in the 1970s and that represented a revision of Brazilian policy towards the continent. Brazil had initially supported Portuguese colonialism in Africa at the UN during the late 1940s and 1950s, but for a short period in the 1960s (the so-called “Independent Foreign Policy” period¹⁰⁴) Brazil began to present a different stand regarding the decolonization process in Africa. At that time, Brazil was interested in diversifying its international partners and the Foreign Ministry began to articulate an African policy that would only became a reality in the mid-1970s.

If during the 1970s Brazil sought close ties with the developing world, the 1980s and 1990s represented a period of disengagement with the continent, particularly because of the impact of several economic crisis in the country. Brazil was described in the 1990s as having turned its back to Africa (Saraiva, 2010).

As will become clear from the sections bellow, Brazil currently identifies that Africa is essential to the success of Brazil’s pursuit of greater voice and recognition in the international arena. Brazilian elites believe that Brazil’s role and position in the international system is smaller than what it should be, and this assumption is mostly based on Brazil’s territorial size and population, and in the last years, in the size and strength of its economy.

In order to reduce the gap between Brazil’s aspirations and the reality of international politics, among other measures, the Brazilian government has appointed several Brazilian nationals to run for elections in international bodies, such as the World Trade Organization’s Directorate, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the support of the African continent, with over 50 votes is considered as essential for the success of these candidates. As an illustrative case, in June 2010, José Francisco Graziano was elected as FAO’s Director General (2012 to 2015) in great part because of a campaign that emphasized food security and appealed to developing countries, especially African nations, and during his inauguration speech on January 2012, he mentioned that Africa would be a priority during his mandate at FAO¹⁰⁵. Brazil’s desire for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council also reflects the importance of obtaining political support from African nations, which represent more than 50 votes within a UN General Assembly of 193 states¹⁰⁶.

In terms of the engagement, it should be mentioned that the Brazilian engagement in Africa benefits from the high level of professionalism on the part of Brazilian diplomats and the country’s broad representation overseas, especially the opening of new embassies under former President Lula. Compared to other developing countries, Brazil benefits from a high number of diplomatic representations in Africa and currently has 37 embassies serving the continent. It should be stressed that 17 of these were inaugurated during the Lula government (2003-2010)¹⁰⁷. The high number of diplomatic representations leaves Brazil only behind major powers in international politics in terms of diplomatic representation in the continent, with the United States having a total of 49, China 48, France 36 and Russia 38 embassies . Brazil is also followed closely by emerging powers who also wish to increase their presence in the continent, India has a total of 27 embassies and Turkey has 31, of which 20 opened in the last 3 years¹⁰⁸.