Is Brazil Afraid of the World?

Teixeira da Costa doesn’t blame foreign bullies for blocking Brazil. Instead, he quotes former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso: “Nothing makes Brazilians happier than isolation.” Part diagnosis, part prescription, Teixeira da Costa’s book may serve as a primer for those who wonder why a continent-size nation of 215 million is often marked down as absent during important international roll calls. For Brazilians, it poses a series of Socratic questions designed to fuel debate —Global Finance.

“Is Brazil Afraid of the World could not come at a more favorable moment. After four years of Jair Bolsonaro’s government, when Brazil became almost a pariah in international affairs on account of its destructive policy in the Amazon rain forest, the country is back again to the world scene. In rapid succession, Brazil will host the G-20 summit next year and the BRICS summit. The new administration has also offered the Amazonian city of Belém as the venue for the climate negotiations of COP-30 in 2025. In the book, Roberto Teixeira da Costa has proposed a remarkable analysis of Brazil’s current challenges and prospects. He offers the authorities and the readers a realistic and feasible road map for a strategy of opening and integration of the country in the world economy with credible potential benefits for Brazilian development and for the advancement of the environmental goals of the international community.” — Rubens Ricupero, in-charge of the José Bonifácio Chair at the University of São Paulo.

 “Teixeira da Costa adeptly and succinctly analyses one of the enduring misconceptions that the world has about Brazil – its isolationist instinct despite its important role in global geopolitics. A vital reading for scholars and practitioners willing to understand contemporary Brazilian foreign policy from a historical context.” — Jacques Marcovitch, University of São Paulo.

“Drawing on his long and influential experience in the public and private sectors, Teixeira da Costa’s book reflects his insights and stresses the urgent need for Brazil to respond to the daunting challenges posed by the fast-changing new rules of global geopolitics.” — Marcos Azambuja, Former Ambassador and Board member of CEBRI.

“Roberto Texeira’s insightful book on Brazil is an essential read for understanding the challenges facing the country in the new international context. Drawing on deep research and extensive experience, Texeira provides valuable insights into the complex issues that will define Brazil’s future development and the way it should interact with the rest of the world.” — Luis Enrique Garcia, Former President CAF-Development Bank of Latin America.

“Drawing on his vast experience in Brazil and the world, Roberto Teixeira da Costa has written a timely and important book. With fresh data, he argues persuasively that Brazilians from diverse sectors need to be more deeply engaged in global affairs. His wise and well-reasoned appeal should be heeded.” — Michael Shifter, former president and senior fellow, Inter-American Dialogue, Adjunct Professor, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University.

“It has always intrigued me why international trade represents such a small proportion of Brazil’s GDP and why Brazilian industry is so insular, despite both the prominence of Brazilian agriculture in the world economy, and the sophistication and international integration of the Brazilian financial system and investment community. This book goes a long way to explain the conundrum.” — Nicholas Reade, RRBA Business Advisory.

“This book combines a rather sophisticated analytical assessment with a rich and prolific field experience on Brazilian and Latin American international relations. A practitioner and a thinker, Teixeira da Costa shares his immense experience and sensible approach, offering a unique collection of findings and memoirs. A must-read, undoubtedly.” — Alberto Pfeifer, Head, Group of Analysis on International Strategy (DSI), University of São Paulo, Brazil.

 “Beyond the reasons for Brazil’s isolation discussed by Roberto, insights on the country’s potential in the world economy and a look forward are presented. A book to open the minds of entrepreneurs, executives, policy makers and managers operating and doing business in Brazil.” — Lívia Barakat, PhD, Professor of International Management at Fundacao Dom Cabral, Brazil.

Brazil's high isolation (or low internationalization) is incompatible with its size and potential. If not fear, what explains it? As a “provocative analysis, not only of Brazil's foreign policy, but of its political economy and role in the global economy”, in the words of Anthony Pereira, Is Brazil Afraid of the World by Roberto Teixeira da Costa fulfills its goal, and “anyone who believes that Brazil can and should have a more influential role in world affairs will benefit from reading it.”—O Estado de S.Paulo