• Journal of Public Diplomacy
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.36-56
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• 2021

The Amazon fires in summer 2019 triggered an incendiary Twitter debate between French president Emmanuel Macron and Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro that engaged political leaders, celebrities, and audiences worldwide. Currently, diplomats-in-chief connect to the global public through completely open debates, often without proper advice from foreign-affairs ministers, which may result in misunderstandings and conflicts among world leaders. Hence, this study argues that these interactions must be supported by Nicholas Cull's seven lessons in public diplomacy. The main topic on hand is presidential public diplomacy performed through digital means in cyberspace. Thus, after distinguishing cyberspace, digital diplomacy, and cyberdiplomacy, the literature review focuses on presidential public diplomacy, presidential diplomacy on Twitter, and Cull's seven lessons. Subsequently, the case study method provides a snapshot of the debate between Macron and Bolsonaro over the Amazon fires. This study concludes by answering the research question and indicating grist for the mill with regard to future developments.

• Iberoamérica
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.93-134
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• 2021

With the inauguration of the Bolsonaro administration in 2019, Brazil experienced a noticeable transformation in its policy lines at home and abroad. Limiting this change to diplomacy, it can be pointed out that pro-U.S. and anti-China diplomacy, which is clearly distinguished from the previous regimes, has begun in earnest. Nevertheless, the existing literature on this topic is limited, and it is mainly poetic reporting through the media. This paper aims to derive the main determinant of Bolsonaru's pro-U.S. and anti-China diplomatic lines by postulating the individual level of the political leader as a key variable. This study argues that his personal experience and beliefs and world views formed by his life history, and Bolsonaro's political calculation that would strengthen his domestic political support through linking between his domestic politics and diplomatic lines, ultimately influenced the dependent variable. This study is thought to be meaningful in that it enhanced the theoretical implications of not only the theory of foreign policy determinants but also the understanding of Brazil's foreign policy by explaining the factors of Brazil's pro-U.S. and anti-China diplomacy through focusing on an individual level.