Title:	Between Conception and Expectation : intra-role conflict in China-Brazil relations
Authors:	Lass, Bruno Reis
Orientador(es)::	Becard, Danielly Silva Ramos
Assunto::	Brasil - relações exteriores China Teoria dos Papéis - Relações internacionais Veículos elétricos
Issue Date:	16-Jun-2026
Data de defesa::	10-Feb-2025
Citation:	LASS, Bruno Reis. Between Conception and Expectation : intra-role conflict in China-Brazil relations. 2026. 2020 f, il. Dissertação (Mestrado em Relações Internacionais)—Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, 2026.
Abstract:	The rise of China as a central player in international affairs has compelled Beijing to craft a National Role Conception (NRC) capable of reconciling its great power status with its identity as a developing nation. This duality is crystallised in the "responsible great power" role, through which China projects itself as a partner of the Global South. However, this dissertation identifies an intra-role conflict between ego and alter expectations of Beijing’s role, where China's domestic imperatives for economic growth—manifested in the export of industrial overcapacity—clash with the developmental expectations of its partners. Adopting a constructivist-based Role Theory framework grounded in symbolic interactionism, this research analyses how these tensions unfold in the Sino-Brazilian relationship. Specifically, it conducts a qualitative case study on the imposition of trade tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) by the Brazilian government in late 2023, along with subsequent developments until 2025. Through an iterative coding analysis of official discourse and policy documents, the study reveals that Brazil did not reject China’s role outright. Instead, Brasília employed a strategy of negotiated dissatisfaction, filtering domestic sectoral pressures (from Anfavea and ABVE) into a trade policy that tacitly signalled a corrective expectation: that China should transition from an exporter of goods to an investor in local capacity. The findings demonstrate that China successfully underwent a process of role adaptation, accelerating factory installations (BYD and GWM) to align its enactment with Brazil’s "green neo-industrialisation" narrative. The dissertation concludes that, despite being increasingly ego-driven, China’s role remains susceptible to the agency of strategic partners who possess the capacity to negotiate the terms of their asymmetry.
Description:	Dissertação (mestrado) — Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Relações Internacionais, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Relações Internacionais, 2026.
metadata.dc.description.ppg:	Programa de Pós-Graduação em Relações Internacionais
Agência financiadora:	Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)
Appears in Collections:	Teses, dissertações e produtos pós-doutorado

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