In Pursuit of Influence: Turkey and Brazil’s New Modes of International Engagement

The paper will explore, in comparative perspective, the tools and means by which the ‘new influentials’ - Turkey and Brazil have been seeking to bolster their international leverage. Although the two countries’ potential - demographic, economic and geopolitical differs with Brazil acting as a prospective global actor and Turkey aspiring to the status of a regional player, there is a striking parallelism in the ‘philosophy’ of how these two countries pursue their foreign policy ambitions. The paper will identify two, interlinked levels of analysis of Turkey and Brazil’s recent foreign policy activism: 1) domestic transformation (economic, social and political) which has been a sine qua non condition of the reinforced international legitimacy, and 2) foreign policy instruments (soft power, shifting trade patterns, international organisations, South-South cooperation etc.) that constitute the new face of the two countries’ international engagement.