Brazil in a Changing Global Order

Brazil in a Changing Global Order

Seminar

Speaker: Antonio de Aguiar Patriota
Chair: Faisal Devji and Galip Dalay
Date: 20 November 2025, 17:30
Venue: Gillis Lecture Theatre, Balliol College, University of Oxford

Abstract

The global order is undergoing a systemic change. This change redefines the position and role of each country and region in the world. At a time when power politics and the logic of great power competition underpin international politics, middle powers such as Brazil have emerged as major proponents of multilateralism and its reform.

In the seminar, Ambassador Patriota will focus on how Brazil view the ongoing global transformation. What sorts of changes and reforms does Brazil advocate at regional and global levels? What new perspectives and approaches does Brazil offer to address major international crises, such as Ukraine and Gaza, as well as reforming global governance?

About the speaker

Antonio de Aguiar Patriota was appointed Ambassador of Brazil to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 2023. He previously served as Ambassador of Brazil to the Arab Republic of Egypt (2019–2023) and to Italy (2016–2019), as well as Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York (2013–2016). He also held the positions of Minister of Foreign Affairs (2011–2013), Secretary-General of Foreign Affairs (2009–2010), and Ambassador to the United States (2007–2009).

While at the UN, he chaired the 60th and 61st Sessions of the Commission on the Status of Women and the Peacebuilding Commission (2013–2014). Over the course of his diplomatic career, he has served in Geneva (1983–1987 and 1999–2003), New York (1994–1999), Beijing (1987–1988), and Caracas (1988–1990).

Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1954, he graduated from the Rio Branco Institute in 1979, after studying Philosophy at the University of Geneva. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in Public Service by Chatham University (2008) in Pennsylvania.