Conventional approaches to hegemony emphasize elements of coercion and exclusion, characteristics that do not adequately explain the operation of the growing number of regional projects or the style of emerging-power foreign policy. This article develops the concept of consensual hegemony, explaining how a structure can be articulated, disseminated and maintained without relying on force to recruit the participation of other actors. The central idea is the construction of a structural vision, or hegemony, that specifically includes the nominally subordinate, engaging in a process of dialogue and interaction that causes the subordinate parties to appropriate and absorb the substance and requisites of the hegemony as their own. The utility of consensual hegemony as an analytical device, especially for the study of regionalism and emerging market power foreign policy, is outlined with reference to Brazil's post-Cold War foreign policy, demonstrating both how a consensual hegemony might be pursued and where the limits to its ideas-based nature lie.

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The focus of this work is how Brazilian foreign policy sought to formulate and implement a hegemonic project in South America after 1992 as a strategy for protecting national autonomy in the post-Cold War international system. By drawing on Gramscian thou 2009-ISA's 50th ANNUAL CONVENTION "EXPLORING THE PAST, ANTICIPATING THE FUTURE" Pages: 13 pages || Words: 5395 words || Info 2. Fonseca, Carmen Sofia. "Brazilian's regional leadership: a jump to the world?" Paper presented at the

Brazil has entered the world of development assistance, but with its own twist. This article argues that Brazil is taking a cross‐government policy approach to the provision of development assistance, and which includes recruitment of business interests. There is a genuine concern with global poverty alleviation in Brazil, but this does not preclude policy‐makers from using aid and development‐related activities to advance national interests. The added quirk that sets Brazil apart from Northern counterparts is that the provision of development assistance offers significant benefits in terms of building up international bureaucratic experience inside the country and helping national firms internationalise their market activities.

Brazilian foreign policy demonstrates an interesting double aspect in the changing global system. Its rhetoric and overt positioning is framed around the idea of Brazil as a value‐creating actor, while in reality there are significant value‐claiming characteristics at the core of its approach to regional and global affairs. The key for Brazil is its position as a ‘bridge’ between the South and the North, which allows its diplomats to establish the country as a critical coalition organizer and ideational leader for southern actors looking for major changes in global governance systems, and a central interlocutor for northern actors trying to cope with pressure from the South. Brazil's ambitions are simple: focusing more on an improved relative position, rather than a complete reformulation of the international system, which serves it well in economic, political and security terms. To explain this argument the article focuses on Brazilian engagement with Africa and South America, as well as the country's approach to major negotiations such as the WTO's Doha round, the Free Trade Area of the Americas and the evolution of regional governance mechanisms such as the Organization of American States and the recently created Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. The pattern that emerges is one of Brazil working to create a consensus around its position, using its consequent leadership to improve Brazilian leverage in the regional and global arena.