Potential Superpowers - Brazil

Brazil

The Federative Republic of Brazil is considered by a number of analysts and academics a potential superpower of the 21st century.

In a 2009 lecture entitled Brazil as an Emerging World Power, presented at the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies at Cornell University, Leslie Elliot Armijo has said that "Brazil will soon rise as Latin America’s first superpower." Armijo states that "Brazil keeps solidifying itself as leader of its region by launching a series of integration projects," adding also that "as an international actor, Brazil has also taken a larger share of world politics by incrementing its already strong presence in economic initiatives, such as the International Finance Facility and the G20," asserting that "Brazil’s rising prominence derives from its solid democratic rule and its strong economy" and concluding that "Soon, we’ll have two superpowers in the Western Hemisphere."

Elizabeth Reavey, a research associate from the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, claims in the title of her 2008 article that While the US Looks Eastward Brazil Is Emerging as a Nuclear Superpower. Describing the importance of the ongoing development of nuclear technology in the country, she calls Brazil an emerging superpower, with a "potential to have a China-like, booming economy, increased nuclear capabilities, a growing self-confidence in its own power and an ability to make its own way."

Brazil is often called an economic superpower, either present or future, and many experts and journalists compare Brazil with the other potential superpowers of the BRIC group. Jonathan Power from Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research claims in his 2006 article Brazil is Becoming an Economic and Political Superpower that "Brazil has a head start on India and China," saying that it has been positively developing for over 100 years, and adding that "between 1960 and 1980 Brazil doubled its per capita income." Power also speculates that Brazil "has a good chance of emerging as the world’s first economic superpower without nuclear weapons." The lack of declared enemies and the fact it has not engaged in any large scale conflicts since the end of the Second World War also contributed for Brazil to so far not maintaining an aggressive military force like the other great powers.