A Liminal and Transitional Awkward Power: Brazil Betwixt the Great and Middle Powers

Wilkins, Thomas Stow; Rezende, Lucas P.

doi:10.1007/978-981-16-0370-9_4

Thomas Stow Wilkins⁶ &
Lucas P. Rezende⁷

Part of the book series: Global Political Transitions ((GLPOTR))

938 Accesses
1 Citations

Abstract

This chapter argues that the nature of Brazilian “power” in the global system is either neglected or misunderstood, even as its presence as a rising power increasingly attracts greater attention from scholars and analysts. To better capture how Brazil sits in the international power hierarchy, we subject it to a threefold theoretical analysis derived from the main IR research traditions—Realism (awkward capabilities), Liberalism (awkward behaviour), and Constructivism (awkward identity). We conclude that Brazil may be categorized as a type of “awkward great power”—one that occupies a liminal and transitional status in the international hierarchy of states due to its impressive but uneven capabilities and its ultimate political determination to acquire a seat at the top tables of international politics.

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Notes

1.
An earlier version of this research was presented at the 2019 Australian Political Science Association conference, for the panel titled “Escaping IR Theory? The Case for Awkward Powers”.
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Department of Government and International Relations (GIR), University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Thomas Stow Wilkins
Department of Economics and International Relations, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis, Brazil
Lucas P. Rezende

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Thomas Stow Wilkins

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Wilkins, T.S., Rezende, L.P. (2022). A Liminal and Transitional Awkward Power: Brazil Betwixt the Great and Middle Powers. In: Abbondanza, G., Wilkins, T.S. (eds) Awkward Powers: Escaping Traditional Great and Middle Power Theory. Global Political Transitions. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0370-9_4

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0370-9_4
Published: 05 October 2021
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