The use of force should not be our first, but our last option-assessing Brazil's norm-shaping towards responsibility to protect

Abstract

Scholarship on international norms has devoted growing attention to emerging powers, often portrayed as norm-shapers, i.e. actors engaged in the development of international normative standards aiming to adjust their contents and modes of application. Several studies have investigated these countries' performance regarding a particular norm : Responsibility to Protect (R2P). This article aims to systematically unwrap Brazil's behaviour as a norm-shaper by tracing the guidelines employed by Brazilian diplomacy to shape elements of R2P. This study relies on Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA) in order to map the attributes and the normative prescriptions found in statements at the United Nations, identifying the characteristic markers of this behaviour. We conclude that, though sovereignty is a ground principle of its foreign policy, Brazil tends to be moderate when addressing the issue. Nonetheless, the latter is upheld in a systematic albeit indirect manner in the Brazilian statements.