The Foreign Service Journal, April 2006

some aspects of the Bush adminis- tration’s war on terror, the Brazilians continue to cooperate at the working level on potential terrorist threats in the hemi- sphere. Brasilia often prefers to exer- cise its diplomacy in multilateral forums, such as the OAS and the U.N., where it usually works coop- eratively with Washington. In a dramatic reversal of past policy, the country recently sent a 1,200- man contingent to lead the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti, showing a new will to assume international leadership (as well as, it must be said, boosting Brazil’s bid for permanent membership on the U.N. Security Council). And a Brazilian general serves as comman- der of the international peacekeeping force in Port-au- Prince. Increasing Trade Flows Of course, as with all conse- quential nations, day-to-day deal- ings can be scratchy. They are at times complicated by a perception on the Brazilian side that the U.S. does not take Brazil as seriously as it should. This perceived asymme- try gnaws at the Brazilians, who ask why their officials and congression- al leaders visiting Washington sometimes have trouble arranging policy-level appointments in the executive branch or on Capitol Hill, when they provide high-level access to U.S. government visitors and con- gressional delegations in Brasilia. In addition, there is a natural competition with the U.S. for hemispheric influ- ence, most evident in recent years in the well-publicized arm-wrestling between the two governments over the conduct and direction of negotiations to create a Free F O C U S A P R I L 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 31 Brazil has gone from being the poster child of the 1980s debt crisis to a stable and reliable player in the international financial system.