| After the Cold War, political power in the world had | | | | World Trade Organization especially on issues on |
| become more distributed among more countries other | | | | agriculture. Alongside with Japan and Germany, Brazil |
| than the United States and the Soviet Union, which has | | | | is also claiming a permanent seat in the UN Security |
| led to the emergence of major powers. A major | | | | Council and it has also contributed to various |
| power is a country or a state that is powerful enough | | | | peacekeeping missions around the world. More |
| to influence events throughout the world. The | | | | importantly, Brazil has the ninth largest GDP in the |
| international media follows its actions, which is a sign of | | | | world and its economy is industrialized, which makes it |
| its vast political influence. Some examples of major | | | | an important player in capital markets. |
| powers include the United Kingdom, Russia, France, | | | | However, there are some issues that hinder Brazil |
| Japan, China, India and Germany. These countries | | | | from being considered a major power such as having |
| exert influence over other countries and their actions | | | | a large portion of its population living in poverty and |
| can affect other countries as well. Among them, China | | | | having a poorly equipped military. It also has limited |
| and India have been considered as potential | | | | influence in international organizations as compared to |
| Superpowers. | | | | other major powers and its economy is not |
| Brazil as an emerging major power | | | | considered strong enough to have considerable effect |
| In South America, an emerging major power is Brazil. | | | | on the world economy. Lastly, the country has still not |
| This is because the country matches almost all the | | | | developed nuclear weapons, which is an important |
| criteria of being a major power, which includes its | | | | criterion for countries to be considered a major power. |
| population, considered to be the fifth largest in the | | | | Brazil can be considered an emerging major power |
| world. Another criterion that Brazil is able to match is | | | | because it can match most of the criteria of other |
| that it is an important commodity producer (minerals | | | | major powers such as China and India. However, there |
| and agriculture). Brazil is also one of the world's largest | | | | are still some issues like poverty and a poorly equipped |
| democracies and there are relatively few serious | | | | military that Brazil needs to address for it to be fully |
| internal disputes. In recent times, Brazil has also been | | | | considered a major power. |
| considered a leader among developing countries in the | | | | |