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slavery. Even Brazil’s participation in the two World Wars was coloured by thehope of increasing its international status through a valuable contribution to theAllied war efforts. So much so, that on the occasion of each War’s ending, Brazil’sleadership was deeply convinced of the country’s entitlement to permanentrecognition of its status in the post-war institutions, the League of Nations, and theUnited Nations Organisation, respectively. The goal of recognition has continued tobe a driver of Brazilian diplomacy, since the institutionalisation of the diplomaticservice by the Baron de Rio Branco at the end of the nineteenth century, andthroughout the independent republic’s history, to the present day. However, asnoted by Celso Lafer, Foreign Minister under President Fernando HenriqueCardoso, for Brazil this was not an expansionist nationalism. 269 For Rio Branco,Brazil’s primary goal was the reduction of power disparities that rendered Brazilvulnerable. These disparities were not to be conquered externally, throughexpansion, but internally, through development. 270For this reason, Brazil’s search for international recognition has seldom beenconducted with force, and has instead relied on a legalistic tradition of diplomacyand multilateralism. As noted by Lima and Hirst, “Brazil’s desire to influenceinternational rules and regimes and to be considered a major player has beenunderstood principally in terms of its soft power: it has consistently eschewed thedevelopment of hard power, and especially of military power”. 271 The Brazilianelite’s concern with the country’s international image is even credited with theeventual return to democracy after two decades of military rule, from 1964 to 1985:“The elite was highly aware of their country’s image abroad, just as they had beensince the nineteenth century. As a group, they identified strongly with the NorthAtlantic democracies”. 272So how, then, has a rapidly growing Brazilian state resisted the temptation to exertits power in a militaristic and confrontational manner on the international scene,choosing instead the path of multilateral institutions, international law, peaceful269 Celso Lafer, A Identidade (Inter)nacional E Política Externa do Brasil. (São Paulo:Perspectiva, 2001): 83.270 Lafer, A identidade, 84.271 Maria Regina Soares De Lima and Mônica Hirst, “Brazil as an intermediate state andregional power: action, choice and responsibilities”, International Affairs, 82, No.1(2006): 21.272 Skidmore, Brazil, 185.124