Brazil’s “Ciencia sêm Fronteiras” Program and Soft Power

Abstract

Ciencia sêm Fronteiras was one of the largest academic exchange programs in the early 2010s that enabled almost 100.000 Brazilian researchers to undertake their research or entire degrees abroad. As one major element of Dilma Rousseff’s international engagement, the program was often named in the context of Brazil’s soft power. But very little research has been done on how Ciencia sêm Fronteiras contributed to Brazil’s soft power reservoir. This article examines the program from an institutional perspective and analyzes why the program has come short in living up to its soft power potential.