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Matias Spektor
Nonresident Scholar, Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program

about


Matias Spektor is founder and full professor at the School of International Relations at FGV in Brazil. He specializes in climate change politics, political violence, transnational repression, and international security in Latin America. He is the author of a series of books on U.S. policy toward the region in general and Brazil in particular, including Kissinger and Brazil (2009), 18 Days (2014), and The Origins of Nuclear Cooperation (2015).

Dr. Spektor has for a decade helped develop the team, the community, and the resources to create a major hub for research and teaching at the School of International Relations at FGV, a leading school in Brazil. His academic research has been supported by the Hewlett Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Stanton Foundation, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the National Research Council of Brazil, among others. He has held visiting fellowships at the LSE, King’s College London, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the Council on Foreign Relations.
 
Dr. Spektor is a regular commentator on the politics and foreign affairs of Latin America and the developing world through outlets such as the New York Times, the Financial Times, and Foreign Affairs. In the period 2012-19, he was foreign policy columnist at Folha de S. Paulo, Brazil’s leading broadsheet. Before joining academia, he worked for the United Nations. 


All work from Matias Spektor

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11 Results
In The Media
in the media
What Happened to Lula?

Revamping Brazil’s grand strategy is a formidable task, and the timing is urgent—the G-20 summit is just ten months away.

· February 28, 2024
Foreign Affairs
REQUIRED IMAGE
In the Media
BRICS and the Emerging New World Order

The countries of the Global South don't want to blindly follow the West because they are not sure if the West will survive in its current form. But they don't want to tie themselves up with China either, and certainly not with Russia.

· August 28, 2023
Der Spiegel
event
Pivotal States: A New Era for U.S.-Brazil Relations?
August 17, 2023

Under Presidents Biden and Lula, the United States and Brazil have an opportunity to collaborate on key international issues like preventing climate change. Will they be able to mark a new era in U.S.-Brazil relations or will the two countries continue to operate at cross purposes?

In The Media
in the media
The Upside of Western Hypocrisy

By responding to charges of hypocrisy by doing better in the future, the United States and its allies can prepare for a more competitive and conflictual world.

· July 21, 2023
Foreign Affairs
research
UN Security Council Reform: What the World Thinks

To illuminate the shifting diplomatic landscape, fifteen scholars from around the world address whether the UN Security Council can be reformed, and what potential routes might help realize this goal.

  • +13
  • Stewart Patrick
  • Sithembile Mbete
  • Matias Spektor
  • Zhang Guihong
  • Alexandra Novosseloff
  • Christoph Heusgen
  • Rohan Mukherjee
  • Phillip Y. Lipscy
  • Miguel Ruiz Cabañas Izquierdo
  • Adekeye Adebajo
  • Andrey Kolosovskiy
  • Joel Ng
  • Priyal Singh
  • Barcin Yinanc
  • Richard Gowan
  • Anjali Dayal
· June 28, 2023
In The Media
in the media
The West Versus the Rest

The last year has highlighted just how differently much of the rest of the world sees not only Russia’s war in Ukraine but also the broader global landscape.

· May 15, 2023
Foreign Affairs
In The Media
in the media
In Defense of the Fence Sitters

What the West Gets Wrong About Hedging.

· April 18, 2023
Foreign Affairs
In The Media
in the media
What Lula’s Return Means for the Amazon

Lula has campaigned on the promise to bring deforestation levels in the Amazon down to zero. The question is whether he can in fact deliver. Brazil has developed an addiction to deforestation. In order to break it, the incoming president will have to muster all the support he can find.

· November 7, 2022
event
Brazil's Choice
September 29, 2022

Brazil’s October 2 elections present the country with a dramatic choice between incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro and former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

  • +1
commentary
Prospects for Nuclear Governance in Brazil

Brazil’s nuclear policy is at a critical juncture. Efforts to reform the sector’s governance will have serious implications for nuclear safety and security, the private sector, civilian-military relations, policy accountability, and the future prospects of Brazil’s nuclear capabilities.

  • Togzhan Kassenova
· March 10, 2020
FGV School of International Relations