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Электронное приложение к журналу «
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Author : A. Budaev
Consul General of the Russian Federation in Rio de Janeiro
RECENTLY, soft power as an important factor of
international relations and interstate communica-
tion has come to the fore in international and Russ-
ian political discourse.
The recent Concept of the Foreign Policy of the
Russian Federation approved by President of the
Russian Federation Vladimir Putin on February 12,
2013 describes soft power as "a comprehensive
toolkit for achieving foreign policy objectives build-
ing on civil society potential, information, cultural and other methods and technologies al-
ternative to traditional diplomacy, which is becoming an indispensable component of modern
international relations."
A closer look at and an analysis of the theory of soft power and its practical uses in Brazil,
the grandee of South American policies and one of the world's leading economies, is espe-
cially interesting. The Brazilian political elite has been recognizing more and more fully the
importance of soft power as one of the attributes of world powers; this factor is taken into
account and used to promote the national priorities at the global and regional levels.
It should be said, however, that the country still lacks a detailed national doctrine even though
certain elements of soft power can be easily discerned in its foreign policy. The political es-
tablishment is still working on the foreign policy concept for its country; according to available
information that document will outline the general trends of using and promoting the soft
power politics. In fact, in the last few years, Brazilian political scientists, diplomats and aca-
demics have been paying much more attention to soft power.
The Brazilian leaders rely on soft power in their foreign policy moves to create favorable con-
ditions for domestic development, resolve the practical problems of modernization and ex-
pand the area of their influence.
All sorts of public, political and cultural events up to and including Brazilian TV serial dramas,
hugely popular in Russia, are the best vehicles of Brazilian soft power. The same can be said
about film festivals, exhibitions of Brazilian paintings, etc.
We need adequate methodology and criteria to be able to measure soft power of any specific
state (Brazil in our case), access its potential and its real impact today and in future. We should
keep in mind that soft power is a multi-component phenomenon with consequences of its
own and an important place in the system of foreign policy coordinates.
Brazil: Soft Power in Foreign Policy