Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past. -- Karl Marx.
The results -- both positive and negative -- of Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim's tenure during the presidency of Luis Inácio Lula da Silva cannot be explained simply by his or his team's political will. His initiatives have both been harmed by and benefited from present circumstances, as well as legacies of the past. These factors range from the increasing diffusion of power in world affairs, which has increased emerging countries' room for maneuver, to the discovery of substantial offshore crude oil reserves, which will allow Brazil to assume a position of prominence in the international economic order. ...