International reputation and smart power: how Brazil is building its international insertion in XXI century

Brazil has a traditional ambition in international politics, it wants to be more influential and more of decision-making actor, but for that, the current Brazilian foreign policies understand that it’s important to build another kind of power for itself in the international system; a more cooperative and participatory power. In this way, the thinking of the concepts of Smart Power by Joseph Nye Jr. and the thinking of the concepts of International Reputation by Anne Sartori can help to understand Brazil’s ambition. Reputation based on honesty (as opposed to reputation based on bluff), points out its relevance for diplomatic relations despite including the deterring of other actors. In addition, Smart Power is a combination of soft and hard power resources used by the State for acting in the international system. Therefore, our purpose in this article is to analyse the most important acts of Brazilian foreign policies in Lula’s and Dilma´s governments and to understand how their strategies to achieve more power in international relations are based on the idea of creating a perception of a good reputation for Brazil and, at the same time, conquering a resource of smart power. Keywords Reputation, Smart Power, Foreign Policy, Brazil