Development banks as instruments of Brazilian strategic diplomacy

Abstract The article considers whether Brazil’s foreign policies aimed at reforming the global governance architecture for development finance can be considered the application of ‘strategic diplomacy’, and assesses the conditions for and limitations of implementing strategic diplomacy in new democracies. To do so, the analysis focuses on the Workers’ Party (PT) governments’ policies and actions related to national and multilateral development banks. It examines whether the Brazilian National Bank of Economic and Social Development (BNDES) and the New Development Bank (NDB; or BRICS Bank) exhibited four key features of strategic diplomacy (systemic focus; long-term objectives; dynamic view of national interest; and engaged political leadership) and what its implications were for achieving Brazil’s long-term foreign policy objectives of national development and autonomy.