Law, Peace and Status: Brazil as a Middle Power during the Second Hague Peace Conference 1907

Abstract

This thesis provides new insights into Brazil’s adoption of the principle of sovereign equality during the Second Hague Peace Conference of 1907. Thus far, historians have mostly remained unexplanatory in their narratives, while IR theorist have been unable to engage with the historical context and the primary sources. I combine historical research with a staunch theoretical analysis to provide an explanation for Brazil’s performance. First, we should understand Brazil as a middle power. In this thesis I develop a historical model for defining middle powers and work out the foreign policy strategies of these powers. Secondly, we should understand Brazil’s foreign policy as driven by status concerns. By doing extensive archival research and historical contextualisation, this thesis reveals the status-seeking motivations behind Brazil’s performance during the Conference. Next to improving our understanding of this case, the research also changes our understanding of middle powers, their role in the dynamics of the international order, and the theory behind middle powers. As such, the thesis also presents new ways for thinking about and analysing middle powers throughout history.