First 100 Days of Lula's Foreign Policy: A Glimpse of the Headlines Around the World
Túlio S H Ferreira is a Research Fellow of the Washington Brazil Office. Davi Figueiredo Gonçalves Vilar, Maria Eduarda Costa Marques de Moraesk e Silva and Samuel Ângelus Henrique Farias are enrolled in the course in International Relations at the Federal University of Paraíba and are members of the team monitoring Brazilian foreign policy that is coordinated by Túlio Ferreira. This text was originally written for issue 71 of the WBO Newsletter, published on June 16, 2023. Fill in the form at the bottom of the text to access and subscribe to the WBO weekly newsletter in English.
The foreign policy of countries is directly related to the identification and defense of national interests (LAFER, 2004). The previous governments of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2010) aimed to project Brazil internationally in a universalistic tone, seeking to consolidate the country as a global player. Thus, it was largely guided by multilateralism, regional integration, and the prestige gained through presidential diplomacy (AMORIM, 2010; RICUPERO, 2017). In the Lula 3 government, it is expected that, to some extent, his foreign policy will express a resumption of Brazil's foreign policy carried out during his previous terms. However, despite the fact that this article does not address the profound discussion of changes in the international system, it should be noted that there are currently significantly different contextual aspects from those expressed in the international scenario of the first decade of the twenty-first century.
This brief article considers, in a narrower sense, the media, which is an important variable in the analysis of foreign policy. More specifically, it seeks to present how, in the first 100 days of the government, the foreign policy of Lula 3 was reported in the headlines of four media outlets in different regions of the world. This focus is justified because the media emerges as a lens for observing external actions and can influence the decision-making process of foreign policy through framing and attempts to set agendas (COHEN, 1963).
To do so, we selected a set of news articles published in The Guardian (United Kingdom), The New York Times (United States), RT (Russia), and G1 (Brazil). The objective was to analyze a portion of the content and sentiment expressed in the headlines of those articles that mentioned the foreign policy of the Lula 3 government. The analysis focused solely on the headlines as they serve the purpose of announcing the news and capturing the reader's attention, providing a relevant indication of the sentiment intended by the media outlet. The findings are shown in the graph below:
Number of articles published about Brazil’s foreign policy
The Brazilian news portal G1 published 50 news articles containing the keywords "foreign policy" and "Brazil." Upon analyzing the headlines of the collected news items, there was a high frequency of mentions of President Lula. Similarly, the most cited countries are the United States, China, and Argentina. This indicates that the news followed the destinations of presidential visits in the early days of his term in office. Lula met with President Joe Biden in Washington, D.C. on February 9th. G1 highlighted the reestablishment of bilateral agendas related to the environment and the importance of issue of "democracy" in the presidential dialogue. The newspaper mentioned the United States in contrast to the information about Lula's visit to China. This comparative dynamic was portrayed in the news from the perspective of U.S. government concerns about Brazil's approach to the Chinese.
Similarly, the newspaper followed Brazil's domestic politics and preparations for the meeting in Beijing. Commercial and economic issues were the main topics. This coverage highlighted the "change of course" in Brazil's foreign policy regarding China in comparison to the previous Bolsonaro government (2018-22). Lastly, G1 closely covered Lula's meetings with Argentine President Alberto Fernández, emphasizing the friendly bilateral relations between the two presidents and the integrative potential of the two countries. Below, there is a word cloud summarizing the most used words in the texts, as well as a graph showing the average sentiment of the analyzed texts.
The Russian newspaper RT published only one specific news article regarding Brazil. This report referred to the Brazilian proposal for the "Peace Club" to address the Russian-Ukraine War and appeared precisely during the meeting between President Lula and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Below, there is a word cloud and a graph depicting the average appearance of different topics in the article.
In the U.S. newspaper The New York Times, there were seven news articles that directly or indirectly involved the foreign policy of the Lula 3 government. They highlighted topics related to democracy, the climate agenda, and political decisions involving Russia and the war in Ukraine. They emphasized the connection between the current Brazilian government and the democratic agenda, with Lula 3 being associated with the idea of a "return to democracy." The countries "Ukraine" and "Russia" appeared next in the headlines. The articles emphasized Brazil's position in the search for consensus and peace. However, the newspaper reported a divergence between Presidents Biden and Lula regarding the provision of weapons to Ukraine. Regarding the Amazon, the newspaper demonstrated alignment between the ideas of Brazil and the United States, with this being an arena for strengthening the foreign relations of these two countries. There was a special focus on the role of Minister Marina Silva with the expectation of reducing illegal deforestation in the Amazon that expressed confidence in Marina's track record in managing environmental issues.
In the British newspaper The Guardian, 29 articles appeared in the World News section. The invasion of the National Congress gained prominence with headlines linking the attack to "Bolsonaro's fascist supporters" and "neo-fascists." The newspaper also drew attention to the recent humanitarian crisis of the Yanomami people. Regarding President Lula, The Guardian mentioned his diplomatic visit to China. The newspaper also referenced the president in relation to his environmental policy and his stance on the Yanomami crisis. Simultaneously, The Guardian also cited accusations of genocide against former President Jair Bolsonaro and operations against illegal mining in indigenous lands. In relation to the War in Ukraine, the editorial focused on President Lula's diplomatic visit to China and his position as a potential mediator in the conflict. The publication emphasized the statements made by the Lula government regarding the conflict, particularly the suggestion by the president of Crimea's secession as a means to appease the war.
This small sample of the treatment of Brazil's foreign policy in the first 100 days of the Lula 3 government highlights some aspects valued in the international political agenda. G1 and The Guardian presented more critical reporting, despite the fact that the majority of the analyzed headlines were neutral or positive. The New York Times showed a predominantly neutral tendency, while the only news article found in RT was clearly positive. Further studies, with a greater number of media outlets and a longer time frame, may contribute to a better understanding of the trends and perceptions reflected in the media regarding the Lula 3 government.
References
Amorim, Celso. “Brazilian foreign policy under President Lula (2003-2010): an overview.” Revista brasileira de política internacional v. 53 (2010): 214-240.
Cohen, Bernard. Press and Foreign Policy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1963.
Lafer, Celso. A identidade internacional do Brasil e a política externa brasileira: passado, presente e futuro. São Paulo: Editora Perspectiva, 2004
Ricupero, Rubens. A diplomacia na construção do Brasil: 1750-2016. Rio de Janeiro: Versal, 2017
