This book analyzes Brazilian foreign policy after the democratic opening of the country in the mid-1980s. To illuminate this topic, authors Tullo Vigevani and Gabriel Cepaluni built an analytical framework which uses three concepts to examine Brazilian Foreign Policy changes over the years: (1) autonomy through distance, (2) autonomy through participation, and (3) autonomy through diversification. The authors demonstrate that the Brazilian military regime sought to distance itself from powerful countries in order to keep its domestic sovereignty, while the Brazilian democratic regimes ”especially the Cardoso administration ”tried to increase international connections despite practicing a foreign policy defending the nation's autonomy in relation to the great powers. With the Lula administration, the country still seeks greater international relationships but through a diversification strategy concerning its partners abroad, therefore counterbalancing the influence of the great powers, especially the United States.

Tullo Vigevani is full professor of political science at Sao Paulo State University (UNESP), researcher at both the Center for Studies on Contemporary Culture (CEDEC) and the National Institute of Science and Technology for Studies on the United States, and coordinator of the Graduate Program on International Relation Paulo Sao Paulo State University, University of Campinas, and Pontifical Catholic University of Sao Paolo. Gabriel Cepaluni is assistant professor of international relations at Sao Paulo State University (UNESP). He received his PhD from the Department of Political Science at the University of Sao Paulo in 2010 and was a visiting researcher in the Department of Government at Georgetown University (2008-2009).