South Atlantic Fault-lines: Competing and Converging Dynamics Between Brazil and the EU
In recent years, the South Atlantic has attracted an increased focus for such renewed perils as piracy spikes and transnational drug trafficking flows, coupled with stately instability in African shores. In this context, Brazil has attempted to discursively assert its regional leadership and pre-emptively exclude unwanted interferences from countries and/or multilateral organizations that are deemed not sufficiently in tune with the needs of the Global South. Although considered less threatening, the European Union (EU) is often included in such a category. The underlined dissociation over a potential North-South fault-line concerning the South Atlantic raises important questions over the European capacity to juggle an emerging power like Brazil while maintaining a modicum of formal relations through the established Special Partnership. This paper is structured around two main goals. It first aims to trace Brazilian security interests in the area in juxtaposition to the EU’s own involvement and awareness to developments in the region. It then seeks to unpack the latter’s toolbox to both engage and entice the former towards a more cooperative joint outcome.
Pedro Seabra . pedronunoseabra@gmail.com
Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon (ICS-ULisboa)
Pedro Seabra holds a Masters in Political Science and International Relations by the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, New University of Lisbon (FCSH-UNL) and a PhD in Comparative Politics, with specialization in International Relations by the Institute of Social Sciences-University of Lisbon (ICS-ULisboa). He has been a Visiting Researcher at both the Institute of International Relations, University of Brasília and the Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation, University of Pretoria.