Embedded Nationalism in a Fragmented World: Lula’s Brazil

During his first speech following a run-off victory over far-right Brazilian incumbent Jair Bolsonaro on October 30, 2022, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva characterized his understanding of democracy “not only as a beautiful word, written in the law, but something actually tangible, which we can feel touching our skin and collectively build on an everyday basis.” With this, the former labor union leader and president of two terms (2003-2010), who was jailed from 20182020 and later released after being cleared of corruption charges, sought to signal to Brazil and the world that his incoming government would, above all, address the nation’s demand for egalitarian economic development driven by popular participation. By implication, this entails pursuing a foreign policy that attracts foreign investment to generate jobs in high-added value sectors, a first step in reducing dependence on commodity exporting. What are the implications of such goals for Brazil’s foreign policy, and for the country’s comeback after four years of Bolsonaro’s Trumpian anti-multilateralism and isolationism? In the same speech, Lula dropped sundry hints about his strategic plan to revitalize the multilateral ties Bolsonaro had damaged by promoting a religious-based