Aspirational Power: Brazil on the Long Road to Global Influence

＂As the largest country in South America by land mass and population, Brazil has been marked since its’ independence by a belief that it has a potential to be more than merely a very large country. Set apart from the rest of the hemisphere by culture, language and history, Brazil has also been viewed by its neighbors as a potential great power, and at times, a threat. But even though domestic aspirations and foreign perceptions have held out the prospect for Brazil becoming a major power, the country has lacked the capabilities - particularly on the military and economic dimensions - to pursue a traditional path to greatness.

Aspirational Power examines Brazil as a rising power. It explains Brazil’s predilection for soft power through a historical analysis of Brazil’s three previous attempts to achieve major power status, each of which shaped its present strategy. Though Brazil’s efforts to rise have fallen short it will continue to try to overcome the obstacles to its rise, whether those obstacles are domestic or international.＂

David Mares holds the Institute of the Americas Chair for Inter-American Affairs at the University of California, San Diego, and is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author of Latin America and the Illusion of Peace and co-editor of the Routledge Handbook of Latin American Security Studies.

Harold Trinkunas is the Charles W. Robinson Chair and senior fellow and director of the Latin America Initiative in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings. His research focuses on Latin American politics, particularly on issues related to foreign policy, governance, and security. He is currently studying Brazil’s emergence as a major power and Latin American contributions to global governance on issues including energy policy, drug policy reform, and Internet governance. Trinkunas has also written on terrorism financing, borders, and ungoverned spaces.