Why Brazil Has the Soft Power and Gravitas to Lead the Global South

by Radu Magdin

Not by shouting the loudest. But by being listened to. This is an asset worth emphasizing more.

Leadership without imperial baggage

Brazil’s greatest strategic asset is what it lacks: an imperial past that still constrains the diplomacy of many global actors. Unlike traditional powers, Brazil does not carry the historical weight of colonization, regime export, or military intervention across continents. This absence of coercive legacy gives Brazil moral room to maneuver in the Global South, where this type of sensitivities remain prominent.

For countries across Africa, Latin America, parts of Asia, and the Middle East, Brazil is perceived not as a patron, but as a peer that succeeded without domination. That distinction matters profoundly in a world where suspicion of great-power motives runs deep. Brazil’s rise feels organic rather than imposed—and that alone creates trust.

Cultural soft power and a positive global spirit

Brazil’s soft power is unusually broad and emotionally resonant. Its culture travels easily. Music, football, cinema, cuisine, carnival, language, and lifestyle form a global emotional vocabulary that cuts across class, ideology, and geography. It thus makes it easy to resonate with Brazil.

Soft power works when people want to listen before they are asked to agree. One can easily agree: Brazil achieves that instinctively. From Lagos to Lisbon, from Johannesburg to Jakarta, Brazilian culture is not perceived as threatening or moralizing—it is perceived as human, joyful, and relatable.

In a world fatigued by confrontation, fear, and zero-sum narratives, Brazil’s positive spirit matters. Optimism, warmth, and openness are not cosmetic traits; they are strategic diplomatic assets.

Diplomatic credibility across divides

Brazil has spent decades cultivating a diplomatic identity built on dialogue, mediation, and strategic autonomy. It is one of the rare actors able to speak credibly with Washington and Beijing, with Brussels and Moscow, with democracies and non-democracies alike. This is not fence-sitting. It is bridge-building.

Brazil’s diplomacy consistently emphasizes multilateralism, international law, and institutional solutions—from the United Nations to the G20 and BRICS. In a polarized world, the Global South does not need another pole. It needs an interlocutor capable of keeping doors open.

Know-how sharing, food security and sustainable development

One of Brazil’s most underappreciated strengths is its long tradition of sharing know-how rather than exporting ideology. Through technical cooperation in agriculture, public health, energy, education and social policy, Brazil has transferred solutions that are practical, affordable and scalable—because they are grounded in lived experience.

Brazil is also a cornerstone of global food security. It already feeds hundreds of millions beyond its borders, while grappling firsthand with the challenge of reconciling productivity with environmental protection. Few countries are better placed to speak credibly about how to feed the world while preserving ecosystems.

This is important, because this balance—between development and sustainability—is not theoretical for the Global South. It is existential. Brazil’s voice carries weight precisely because it refuses false choices.

Environmental stewardship without moralizing

Home to the Amazon, Brazil sits at the center of the global climate conversation. Yet it rejects too-often-present, simplistic narratives that pit conservation against development. Brazil understands that environmental sustainability must be compatible with growth, dignity and national sovereignty.

In a world where climate agendas are often perceived as externally imposed, Brazil has the legitimacy to reframe sustainability as opportunity rather than punishment, and as shared responsibility rather than unilateral obligation.

EU–Brazil and Mercosur: a strategic opportunity Europe cannot afford to miss

Brazil’s leadership potential is further reinforced by its natural partnership with the European Union. Both actors are deeply invested in multilateralism, rules-based cooperation and institutional solutions to global challenges. In an era of unilateralism and transactional power (just look at the recent news reports!), the EU and Brazil share a belief that legitimacy still matters and that global problems require collective responses.

But this partnership must move from rhetoric to action. If Europe is serious about its global role, it must also become serious about the EU–Mercosur agreement. This is not a narrow trade file; it is a strategic test of whether Europe understands the world it is entering. Fortunately, many European leaders agree on this and should be able to overcome the recent turbulence.

Latin America—and Brazil in particular—is a core pillar of the Global South, and one of the few regions where Europe enjoys genuine trust, historical ties without coercion, and political compatibility. National capitals need to internalize a simple reality: Europe needs Latin America—for food security, climate cooperation, energy transition, geopolitical balance and global legitimacy. And Latin America needs a Europe that shows up with commitment, not hesitation.

If Europe wants to champion multilateralism credibly and offer a positive, rules-based vision for the world, anchoring Mercosur must become a cornerstone of its external strategy.

Gravitas through restraint, leadership by convening

Brazil’s gravitas ultimately comes from restraint—from knowing when not to escalate, not to personalize global disputes, not to turn diplomacy into spectacle. This is not a weakness. It is strategic maturity.

The future of the Global South will not be shaped by a single hegemon. It will be shaped by coalitions, platforms and shared agendas. Brazil’s unique strength lies in its ability to convene—to align interests, translate between worlds, and turn diversity into coordination.

In an age of confrontation, Brazil offers coordination without coercion. In an age of scarcity, it offers solutions rooted in experience. In an age of anxiety, it offers optimism without naïveté.

The world does not just need another power center. It needs Brazil’s positive spirit, its capacity to feed, connect, mediate and inspire. That is soft power. That is gravitas. And that is why Brazil has what it takes to lead the Global South—by trust and partnership, not by force.

*CEO, Smartlink Communications