Replication Data for: "Democratization and Graduation Dilemmas Faced by Regional Powers in the Global South: A comparative Study of Brazil and South Africa"

This article aims to understand how democratization processes have influenced the foreign policy of regional powers in the Global South. Our theoretical model brings together the concepts of ‘regional power’ and ‘graduation dilemma’. It is used for a comparative study of Brazil and South Africa’s foreign policy in two stages: 01. ‘prestige diplomacy’ with a focus on human rights in the 1990s; and 02. global projection in the 2000s. We employ a comparative methodology that uses process tracing to build an analytical grid in order to reveal the particularities of the causal mechanisms in the historical trajectories of the two countries. Prestige diplomacy was successful for both Brazil and South Africa in the 1990s and both sought to play international leadership roles in the 2000s. Nonetheless, their responses to the graduation dilemmas were different, especially in relation to their respective regions. South Africa engaged more actively in crisis mediation processes and peace operations in its region; Brazil had a more inconsistent participation in regional crises and frequently retreated from regional alliances when seeking to increase its international status, which generated friction with its neighbors.

本文旨在探究民主化进程如何影响全球南方（Global South）范围内区域大国的外交政策。本研究的理论模型整合了‘区域大国（regional power）’与‘毕业困境（graduation dilemma）’两大核心概念。本研究针对巴西与南非的外交政策展开两阶段比较研究：其一为20世纪90年代以人权为核心的声望外交（prestige diplomacy）；其二为21世纪头十年的全球投射（global projection）。本研究采用过程追踪法（process tracing）构建分析框架，以揭示两国历史轨迹中因果机制的独特性。20世纪90年代，巴西与南非的声望外交均取得成功；两国均在21世纪头十年谋求发挥国际领导作用。然而，二者对毕业困境的应对策略存在显著差异，尤其在各自区域层面表现突出：南非更积极参与本地区的危机调解与和平行动；而巴西在区域危机中的参与度更趋不稳定，且在谋求提升国际地位时常退出区域联盟，这一行为引发了与周边邻国的摩擦。