In presenting the Brazilian view of global strategic prospects, I want to start with some thoughts about the current world situation.  The usual observation that we live in a multipolar world is all very well, but it is insufficient. An ideal world must be reconciled with the realms of possibility: Brazil wants to contribute to the building of ‘benevolent multipolarity’. This is not the first time that this concept has been expressed, but it does not seem to me that it has been theoretically defined. I trust that it will become clearer in the course of this presentation.

Making the Benevolent Approach to Multipolarity a Trump Card for World Government.

With ‘benevolent multipolarity’, the international system is enriched by the existence of multiple power centres and different viewpoints. A greater number of players share in the decision-making processes, improving the representation of world government management mechanisms. Benevolent multipolarity also makes the system more effective and more vigorous, by virtue of respect for the integrity of the basic principles of multilateralism, of which the United Nations is the linchpin.  Cooperation between States that favour democratic pluralism reinforces the cause of development. In a multipolar framework, representation of the interests of the weakest is strengthened, compared with other power structures (unipolar or bipolar).

In these conditions, the international agenda in general, and the security agenda in particular are not pre-defined. The degree of autonomy in which States can choose the posture that best suits them is enhanced when the international system is not asphyxiated by the existence of just one or two poles.  The absence of automatic alignments, voluntary or imposed, increases each nation’s responsibility for safeguarding its own security.