Brazil–Turkey Relations in the 2000s: Deconstructing Partnership between Emerging Powers

Abstract:

Uncertainty about the state of the new global order and the dynamics that govern it permeate academic literature and policy inquiries. In this new world order 'picking allies, making friends and containing adversaries […] promises to be an unclear, ambiguous and delicate process'. Using Brazil and Turkey as an example, this paper aims to understand how and why emerging countries choose to 'partner up'.

The paper focuses on the growing relations between the two countries in the areas of political and economic cooperation between 2008 and 2012. The theoretical proposal of the paper is to test whether realist or more constructivist explanations can account for the approximation of these seemingly unlikely partners. This is done by examining the ideas and interests behind the moves towards stronger bilateral ties between the two states.