Presidents and diplomacy: ideology’s impact on Brazil’s international forest engagement

Abstract

To varying degrees, presidents are responsible for guiding a country’s foreign policy and adopting diplomatic strategies in accordance with their own beliefs and interests. In this sense, different presidents equate to different strategies and patterns of international engagement. This study focuses specifically on variations in engagement on forest-focused and related issues in Brazil under different presidents. We explore whether presidents with the same political ideology and autonomy strategy show the same patterns of engagement with other countries. To reach this goal, we carried out a quantitative analysis of all bilateral and multilateral agreements signed by Brazil from 1995 to 2022, as well as the size of delegations sent to international forums on forests, climate change and biodiversity. Our results show that right- and left-leaning presidents show different preferences when it comes to issues addressed in their engagement. Similarly, presidents with different approaches to autonomy show a preference for different partners in the international arena. Moreover, our study points out the constraining role of both domestic and international factors in conducting foreign policy and asks for further studies to deepen the understanding of the dynamics driving delegation formation.