Building peace: army engineers as an element of the brazilian smart power at MINUSTAH

Abstract

This article addresses the way the work performed by the Brazilian Engineering Company (BRAENGCOY) produced the soft power needed to convert the action of the Brazilian troops at MINUSTAH into smart power. The study presents a profiling of the Brazilian military power deployed in the mission, represented by the security and stabilization forces, and the way that their actions contributed to show its hard power to the world. Following to this, it analyses BRAENGCOY’s work, with a focus on those who had a direct impact on the Haitian population, which made it exceed its traditional role as a combat power multiplier agent to also became an attraction power producer, a soft power component. Lastly, it was performed an analysis of the engineering jobs characteristics which favored the soft power production, in order to allow the observation of the advantages of the deployment of engineering troops in peacekeeping missions for the attainment of the smart power synergic effect, by the blend of hard and soft power.

Keywords

• operações de paz
• minustah
• braengcoy