In this seminar, Monica Herz, Professor at the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC) of Rio de Janeiro, will present the past and future prospects of Brazil's foreign policy.

The dilemma of state sovereignty versus intervention has become a critical point in the future of global governance and the relationship between rising and traditional powers. The negative effects of the Libya intervention on the responsibility to protect doctrine resulted in the consequent paralysis over the civil war in Syria, and a demand by rising powers for alternatives methodologies to what they considered a norm shaped by Western realpolitik. However, the deafening silence by rising powers over Russia´s intervention in the Ukraine illustrated the reality of power politics and the inability of modern institutional architecture to manage it, raising questions about the future of global governance.

This presentation will analyze the historical role Brazil has played in global governance mechanisms and its future prospects with a focus on institutional development and security. The legitimacy gaps and decision making difficulties that global governance mechanisms currently face will be addressed as well as the tensions between the Westphalian concept of sovereignty and current trends of demand for adaptation to responsibility standards.

  • Introduction by Kristian Berg Harpviken, PRIO Director
  • Speaker: Monica Herz, Global South Unit for Mediation, BRICS Policy Centre, Pontifical Catholic University (PUC) of Rio de Janeiro
  • Discussant: Benedicte Bull, Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM), University of Oslo
  • Moderator: Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert, PRIO

This seminar is arranged with the support of NOREF.