This book analyzes Brazilian foreign policy after the democratic opening of the country in the mid-1980s. To illuminate this topic, authors Tullo Vigevani and Gabriel Cepaluni built an analytical framework which uses three concepts to examine Brazilian Foreign Policy changes over the years: (1) autonomy through distance, (2) autonomy through participation, and (3) autonomy through diversification.

The authors demonstrate that the Brazilian military regime sought to distance itself from powerful countries in order to keep its domestic sovereignty, while the Brazilian democratic regimes-especially the Cardoso administration-tried to increase international connections despite practicing a foreign policy defending the nation's autonomy in relation to the great powers. With the Lula administration, the country still seeks greater international relationships but through a diversification strategy concerning its partners abroad, therefore counterbalancing the influence of the great powers, especially the United States.

Tullo Vigevani is professor of political science at São Paulo State University (UNESP), research coordinator of the Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies, coordinator of the National Institute for Studies on the United States, and coordinator of the post-graduate program on international relations at the State University of Campinas and the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paolo.

Gabriel Cepaluni has recently been a visiting researcher in the department of government at Georgetown University and is author of Patent Regime: United States X Brazil on the International Chessboard.