Mercosur and BRICS: the convergence at the UN General Assembly

Abstract

The prospect for emerging powers to influence the international order depends, to a great extent, on their collective action capacity. It is imperative that these countries are capable of assuming cohesive positions in the scope of international regimes and organizations. In case they are unable to forge coordination, it is unlikely that they will be able to expand their bargaining power past of what they already possess individually. This article aims to analyse the weight of regional and global coalitions as conducive to behavioural cohesion in multilateral arenas. Brazil will be taken as a reference. The degree to which Brazil's positioning converges with three other groups of countries in the UN General Assembly (UNGA) is analysed: Mercosur, BRICS and nuclear powers. This analysis covers the period between 1946 and 2008. It intends to understand the specific weight of coalitions as inducing positioning convergence in the UNGA.Measuring the affinity between Brazil and nuclear powers serves as a control group, since both Mercosur ―in the subregional arena― and BRICS ―in the global arena― are coalitions motivated by the possibility of balancing the North American hegemonic power within the international order.