Publications

Brazil on a Summit High: Neutral and Pragmatic

Brazil ahead of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro

With its pragmatic equidistance, the host of this year's G20 summit is reaching its limits in terms of foreign policy, but its neutrality also offers opportunities. Thanks to its stringent neutrality and a good dose of pragmatism, Brazil has many options for diversifying its foreign and trade relations. In times of multiple crises, this strategy sometimes reaches its limits. The escalating global conflicts require clear commitments and clear action. Multiple interests must be carefully weighed up and close ties are becoming more difficult - in all directions. Brazil is a sought-after partner that is making a confident appearance on the international stage during Brazil's G20 year. Germany and Europe would be well advised not to close the doors that are still open.

No way Out? Navigating Global Insecurity

Policy Papers

Download the free publication Policy Papers 2024, which accompanies the themes of Forte International Security Conference.

CO2 compensation – climate protection instrument, fraudulent labelling or modern indulgence trade?

On the controversial role of CO2 offsetting and the importance of binding global standards to avoid greenwashing – with insights from Latin America

In order to combat the consequences of advancing climate change, all appropriate instruments should be used. In addition to urgently avoiding and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, this also includes offsetting them in areas where damage limitation is (still) the only way to contribute to climate protection. However, internationally valid quality standards for offsetting projects must be defined and appropriately communicated to producers, consumers, and people in the implementing regions.

Politics and Democracy - Concepts and History for interpreting reality

E-book

The publication "Politics & Democracy - Concepts and History for the Interpretation of Reality", by Humberto Dantas and Leandro Salman Torelli, takes a comprehensive look at the history and foundations of politics and democracy, both on the global stage and in the Brazilian context. The book's chapters are divided into two parts. The first part is dedicated to the analysis of democracy and citizenship in their development, from Ancient Greece, culminating in today's societies. The second part is dedicated to the history of Brazilian democracy, covering its various historical phases and featuring several of its most significant moments. Available for free download, "Politics & Democracy" is an excellent opportunity for a wide audience - from high school students to teachers - to broaden their understanding of the political and social reality in Brazil, as well as making evident the need to always seek an increasingly democratic society.

The prohibition of proportional coalitions in Brazil:

dynamics and effects from the local to the national level

Organized by Silvana Krause, Carlos Machado and Lara Mesquita, this book is dedicated to the subject of the end of proportional coalitions in Brazil, with ten chapters written by a select group of experts dedicated to investigating and deepening the understanding of this political phenomenon. This book is essential for anyone interested in gaining a better understanding of party coalitions: what they are, the debates and advances made over the years, as well as the impacts of the most recent decisions on Brazilian democracy.

The world is looking for Brazil

Why Europe would do well to meet Brazil on an equal footing

Brazil is preparing for the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro in November. Now the ninth largest economy in the world, Brazil is a key partner for Germany and Europe, is aware of this role and is acting in an emphatically self-confident manner. Relations between Brazil and Germany, as well as Europe, can look back on a long and positive history. Nevertheless, it is hard to shake off the feeling that the two sides have grown apart or become estranged. It remains to be hoped that European voices are right and that the strategic association agreement between the South American economic bloc Mercosul and the EU is not "dead" after all.

Brazil in Focus 02/2024

Legislative power needs attention / Renewable energies in Brazil

The new edition of the Brasil Em Foco series is available for free download. This, the second issue of 2024, features two articles dedicated to the topics of the legislative agenda in Brazil in 2024 and renewable energies in Brazil. The Brasil em Foco series aims to publish monthly articles analyzing the main issues on the political scene, in order to contribute to the democratic debate.

Governance - institutions, actors and strategies

Publication on the theme of governability at a strategic moment for understanding this phenomenon, five years after the first collection of texts.

In 2018, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the collective of political scientists called LEGIS-ATIVO, a project associated with the Voto Consciente Movement, were faced with a crucial question: how could the executive branch carry out its agenda under the leadership of a newly-elected president who was ranting against the basic foundations of what had been understood up to that point as governability? Moreover, how could it be understood that this phenomenon was more complex than the relations between the Planalto and the National Congress? Thus was born, at the beginning of 2019, "GOVERNABILITY - to understand Brazilian politics", a title that gained ground in academia and among political analysts. But five years on, until the dawn of 2024, Brazil has witnessed new chapters of constant "political reform", the extrapolation of the Judiciary as a central actor in the public policy agenda, different conflicts based on an Executive that is intense in its actions, new ways of understanding Governability as a phenomenon and, above all, two forces brought to the forefront in the perception of the phenomenon that once again lends its name to a work by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation: the Armed Forces and International Relations. Faced with such complexity, we present here GOVERNABILITY - Institutions, actors and strategies - with unpublished texts and a very special group of authors.

Book 'Democracy and Anti-Corruption Public Policies'

Publication brings together articles by experts who explore the contribution of the fight against corruption to the defense of democracy.

75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The 1948 Declaration formulated a claim, but it is by no means the end of the matter.

When the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, under the leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt, draft-ed the Declaration in 1947, the goal was to bridge deep divisions between liberal states and authoritarian regimes, between secular and religious countries. The result was thirty concise articles. Their adoption by the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1948—although not legally binding—was an astonishing histor-ical development. Since then, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has not remained free of criticism. And when it comes to human rights violations, we are often dealing with massive offenses. The implemen-tation of human rights in social and political reality therefore remains an ongoing challenge. This is currently evident in the developments in the Middle East.