Brazil's Rise to the Global Stage (BraGS): Humanitarianism, Peacekeeping and the Quest for Great Powerhood

Led by Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert
Aug 2014 - Jul 2017

Brazil’s Rise to the Global Stage (BraGS) seeks to understand the drivers behind Brazilian humanitarian action and participation in peacekeeping and peacebuilding activities. As a new player in the field of humanitarian assistance, Brazil has brought a new form of moral and strategic motivations to the table. However, humanitarian action also serves Brazil’s regional and international ambitions as a rising power. Improving knowledge on Brazil and its international positioning in general requires a better understanding of its policies of humanitarian engagement, which has become a crucial field of Brazil’s foreign policy.

Through its engagement, Brazil has sought to reconceptualize both humanitarianism and peacekeeping, in line with its more principled stance on sovereignty, non-intervention and less conditionality. The point of departure of the project is innovative as it does not seek to understand the engagement of Brazil in terms of the traditional binary between challenging norms or assimilating to them, but rather contends that this must be a matter of empirical inquiry. Beyond its immediate relevance to humanitarianism and peacekeeping, the project addresses the role of rising powers in global governance, and the status component of humanitarian engagements.

The project explores the following questions:

How does Brazil's principled stance on humanitarianism and peacekeeping translate into practice?
How has Brazil sought to reshape the international agenda on humanitarianism and to what extent has it succeeded?
What are the key drivers behind Brazil's humanitarian policy, and what consequences does this engagement have for Brazil's international status?

BraGS will address these questions through a collaborative project bringing together both Norwegian and Brazilian researchers and institutions, with Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert (project leader) and Kristin Bergtora Sandvik from PRIO, Benjamin de Carvalho from NUPI, independent consultant Torkjell Leira, Paulo Esteves from the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Eduarda Hamann from the Igarapé Institute in Brasilia, and Liliana Jubilut from the Universidade Católica do Santos (UniSantos).

This project is placed under the umbrella of the Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies (NCHS).

Members

Research Groups

Publications

Peer-reviewed Journal Article

Sandvik, Kristin Bergtora (2018) Gendering violent pluralism: women’s political organising in Latin America, Third World Thematics: a TWQ Journal. DOI: 10.1080/23802014.2018.1477527.

Sandvik, Kristin Bergtora & Kristian Hoelscher (2017) The Reframing of the War on Drugs as a “Humanitarian Crisis”: Costs, Benefits and Consequences, Latin American Perspectives 44(4): 168–182.

Cezne, Eric; Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert & Kristin Bergtora Sandvik (2016) Drones como Veículos para a Ação Humanitária: Perspectivas, Oportunidades e Desafios [[Drones as vehicles for humanitarian action: perspectives, opportunities and challenges]], Conjuntura Austral 7(3334): 45–60.

Besharati, Neissan & Paulo Esteves (2015) Os BRICS, a Cooperação Sul-Sul e o Campo da Cooperação para o Desenvolvimento Internacional, Contexto Internacional 37(1): 289–330.

Esteves, Paulo & Manaíra Assunção (2014) South–South cooperation and the international development battlefield: between the oecd and the UN, Third World Quarterly 35(10): 1775–1790.

Book Chapter

Hamann, Eduarda & Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert (2020) Brazil’s Evolving "Balancing Act" on the Use of Force in Multilateral Operations: From Robust Peacekeeping to "Responsibility While Protecting", in Esteves, Paulo; Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert; & Benjamin de Carvalho, eds, Status and the Rise of Brazil: Global Ambitions, Humanitarian Engagement and International Challenges. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan (153–173).

Jumbert, Maria Gabrielsen & Torkjell Leira (2020) A Brief Moment in History or the Beginning of a New Trend? Brazil’s Emerging Humanitarian Engagement in a Broader Context, in Esteves, Paulo; Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert; & Benjamin de Carvalho, eds, Status and the Rise of Brazil Global Ambitions, Humanitarian Engagement and International Challenges. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan (177–194).

Reklev, Linn Marie & Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert (2018) Shaping the political space for resettlement: The debate on burden-sharing in Norway following the Syrian refugee crisis, in Garnier, Adèle; Kristin Bergtora Sandvik; & Liliana Jubilut, eds, Refugee Resettlement: Power, Politics and Humanitarian Governance. New York: Berghahn Books (159–182).

Cellini, Amanda (2018) Current Refugee Resettlement Program Profiles, in Garnier, Adèle; Kristin Bergtora Sandvik; & Liliana Jubilut, eds, Refugee Resettlement: Power, Politics and Humanitarian Governance. New York: Berghahn Books (253–305).

Lyra Jubilut, Liliana & Andrea Cristina Godoy Zamur (2018) Brazil’s Refugee Resettlement: Power, Humanitarianism and Regional Leadership, in Garnier, Adèle; Liliana Lyra Jubilut; & Kristin Bergtora Sandvik, eds, Refugee Resettlement: Power, Politics and Humanitarian Governance. New York: Berghahn Books (70–94).

Garnier, Adèle; Kristin Bergtora Sandvik & Liliana Lyra Jubilut (2018) Introduction: Refugee Resettlement as Humanitarian Governance: Power Dynamics, in Garnier, Adèle; Liliana Lyra Jubilut; & Kristin Bergtora Sandvik, eds, Refugee Resettlement: Power, Politics and Humanitarian Governance. New York: Berghahn Books (1–30).

Sandvik, Kristin Bergtora (2018) A Legal History: The Emergence of the African Resettlement Candidate in International Refugee Management, in Garnier, Adèle; Liliana Lyra Jubilut; & Kristin Bergtora Sandvik, eds, Refugee Resettlement: Power, Politics and Humanitarian Governance. New York: Berghahn Books (46–69).

Esteves, Paulo & Manaíra Assunção (2017) The South–South Partnership Puzzle: The Brazilian Health Expert Community in Mozambique, in Bergamaschi, Isaline; Phoebe Moore; & Arlene B. Tickner, eds, South-South Cooperation Beyond the Myths: Rising Donors, New Aid Practices?. London: Palgrave Macmillan (107–136).

Todd, John & Benjamin de Carvalho (2016) Brazil — A New Global Energy Player and Partner for the EU?, in Jakub Godzimirski, ed., EU Leadership in Energy and Environmental Governance. London: Palgrave Macmillan (181–202).

Hamann, Eduarda & Adriana Abdenur (2016) ONU e segurança internacional [UN and International Security], in Jubilut, Liliana; João Carlos Jarochinski Silva; & Larissa Ramina, eds, A ONU aos 70: contribuições, desafios e perspectivas [The UN at 70: contributions, challenges and perspectives]. Boa Vista: Universidade Federal de Roraima (1073–1118).

de Carvalho, Benjamin (2016) The Modern Roots of Feudal Empires: The Donatary Captaincies and the Legacies of the Portuguese Empire in Brazil, in Halperin, Sandra; & Ronen Palan, eds, Legacies of Empire: Imperial Roots of the Contemporary Global Order. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (128–148).

Edited Volume

Esteves, Paulo; Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert; & Benjamin de Carvalho, eds, (2020) Status and the Rise of Brazil: Global Ambitions, Humanitarian Engagement and International Challenges. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Garnier, Adèle; Liliana Lyra Jubilut; & Kristin Bergtora Sandvik, eds, (2018) Refugee Resettlement: Power, Politics and Humanitarian Governance. New York: Berghahn Books.

Non-refereed Journal Article

Hamann, Eduarda (2016) A força de uma trajetória [A Path Forged Over Time], Military Review 71(4): 47–62.

Jubilut, Liliana Lyra; Camila Sombra Muiños de Andrade & André de Lima Madureira (2016) Humanitarian visas: building on Brazil's experience, Forced Migration Review 53: 76–79.

Jumbert, Maria Gabrielsen; Kristian Hoelscher; Benjamin de Carvalho & Pinar Tank (2014) Brazil: An Aspiring Global Power, Government Gazette: 80–82.

PRIO Policy Brief

Leira, Torkjell (2018) Brazil’s International Humanitarian Engagement: The Missing NGO Channel, PRIO Policy Brief, 8. Oslo: PRIO.

Hauge, Wenche Iren (2017) Regional Cooperation in Latin America: The Role of Brazil, PRIO Policy Brief, 9. Oslo: PRIO.

Cezne, Eric & Eduarda Hamann (2016) Brazilian Peacekeeping: Challenges and Potentials in Turbulent Landscapes at Home and Internationally, PRIO Policy Brief, 22. Oslo: PRIO.

Sandvik, Kristin Bergtora & Kristian Hoelscher (2016) Is the War on Drugs a “Humanitarian Crisis”?, PRIO Policy Brief, 2. Oslo: PRIO.

Report - Other

Esteves, Paulo; Juliana Dei Svaldi Rossetto; Melissa Pomeroy; & Bianca Suyama (2017) Paths for developing South-South Cooperation Monitoring and Evaluation SystemsBrazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC).

da Fonseca, João Moura M.; Paulo Luiz M. L. Esteves; & Geovana Zoccal Gomes (2015) Brazilian Health and Agricultural Cooperation in Angola: An overview, BPC Policy Brief, 2. Rio de Janeiro: BRICS Policy Center.