Brazil, the world’s largest sugar producer, supplies 16 per cent of its energy consumption and approximately three quarters of its transport fuels with sugarcane-based ethanol. From ca. 2003 until 2014, the country under the Workers’ Party government aimed at creating a global market for ethanol. The time seemed right to steer foreign policy towards this goal due to a benevolent structural environment with global discussions about energy security, climate change, and South-South cooperation. 

Within a neoclassical realist framework, this study examines why Brazil did not fully succeed in its ethanol diplomacy to create a global market for ethanol. The analysis covers three analytical levels: the bilateral with Brazil in power deficit, the bilateral with Brazil in power surplus, and the multilateral, represented in three empirical chapters, Brazil-US, Brazil-Mozambique, and Brazil’s multilateral ethanol diplomacy, respectively. Each chapter finishes with a set of recommendations for political consideration.

This study also demonstrates how the theoretical approach of neoclassical realism can combine foreign policy output with international politics outcome research and is useful to analyse policy outside the hard security realm. It offers a basis for further research towards an understanding of Brazil’s overall foreign policy and the foreign policies of other emerging powers.

Thomas Fröhlich is an international relations scholar and expert on Latin America. His research explores the global energy transition and soft power. Thomas holds a PhD in international relations from King’s College London and a master’s degree from the University of Munich.

List of Illustrations; Preface; Acknowledgements; List of Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Theoretical Framework; 2. Methodology; 3. Literature Review; 4. The Brazil–US Ethanol Relationship; 5. The Brazil–Mozambique Ethanol Relationship; 6. Brazil’s Multilateral Ethanol Diplomacy; 7. Summary and Outlook; Appendix; References; Index.

“Brazil’s International Ethanol Strategy provides an excellent case study of the ways international diplomacy overlaps with energy markets in the twenty-first century. By exploring how Brazil tried to build a global market for ethanol — and how this process required multilateral engagements with countries in the global North and South — Fröhlich shows how countries like Brazil attempt to build their foreign influence through diverse and innovative diplomatic strategies.” — Dr. Jeff Garmany, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia.

“In the last 40 years Brazil has successfully implemented a complex, multimillion and safe ethanol (and biofuel) industry. The use of ethanol in light vehicles saves Brazil from the oil shocks, the oil prices volatility and will save the country from climate change. It is worth nothing that other economies have been interested in how Brazil did that! And that’s what Mr Fröhlich has been studying and brings light on in this book.” — Fernanda Delgado, Professor and Strategic Advisor at FGV Energia, Brazil