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liberalism alone cannot account for muted emergence strategies, as both states havebeen criticised for decidedly illiberal postures toward human rights-violating states,such as Cuba and Myanmar. In addition, at the domestic level, there has not been anoticeable opening of participation in the policymaking process by either Brazil orSouth Africa, giving short shrift to ideas of the democratisation of foreign policy.A third set of reasons why under-resourced states would adopt wide-ranging foreignpolicies, and commit resources to them, lies within the constructivist approach tointernational relations. Here, the primary motives for states’ international actions areidentity-related. Constructivists emphasise a social ontology that gives rise tomotives for action that diverge from rationalism. States may conduct actions thatstem from sensitivity to the logic of appropriateness, rather than rationalism’s logic ofconsequences. 48 Hence, states may commit to costly international action as the result ofa perception by leaders that it is the correct, or appropriate, thing to do for a givenidentity, whether it is the identity of ‘great power’, ‘responsible power’, or ‘emergingpower’. These actions may include, but are not limited to, participation inpeacekeeping activities, granting aid, and seeking permanent representation in theUnited Nations Security Council. Such actions may also be motivated by aconviction that the community to which the state owes moral or ethical dutiesextends beyond the nation state, and includes the wider community of those whoshare certain characteristics, such as poverty or race or marginalisation frominternational affairs.Yet, while identity accounts for much in the foreign policy postures of South Africaand Brazil, it cannot account for how, whether, and over what duration of time,structural features of the international system bring about change in the foreignpolicies of these states.For these reasons, neoclassical realism represents a sharp analytical tool with whichto examine the foreign policies of emerging powers. Neoclassical realism is atradition of scholarship in IR theory that has been gathering pace over the last twopowers such as South Africa and Brazil. For a discussion of the relation betweendemocratisation and conflict, see Edward D. Mansfield and Jack Snyder,“Democratization and the Danger of War”, International Security, 20, No.1 (1995).48 James G. March and Johan P. Olsen, “The Institutional Dynamics of InternationalPolitical Orders”, International Organization, 52, No.4 (1998).35