With Brazil playing a bigger role on the world stage—from climate talks to trade—how do the country’s Cold War–era struggles over nationalism and development still shape its politics today?

Brazilian leaders of various ideological persuasions have long believed that, given the country’s size and natural wealth, it should play a larger role in international affairs. There has historically been deep disagreement, however, over how to fulfill that potential. One broad group over much of the twentieth century argued that the key to global influence and shared prosperity was an intentional process of state-led industrial development. In order to modernize its economic base, they argued, Brazil needed to embrace structural reforms to its socioeconomic order. On the other hand, others held that such a disruptive approach risked stoking disorder and that the safer path to development was to focus on Brazil’s traditional competitive advantages, in particular exporting cash crops like sugar, coffee, and animal protein. Debates over these broad visions, as well as who to blame for Brazil’s relative underdevelopment, very much still shape the contours of political debate in Latin America’s largest nation.