Raphael is a PhD Candidate at the Department of War Studies, born in Campinas, Brazil. He received his MPhil in International Relations from the Interinstitutional Program San Tiago Dantas (São Paulo State University, Campinas State University and PUC-SP) in 2015; and received his bachelor’s degree in International Relations from São Paulo State University in 2012.

He has experience in the Brazilian government in National Defence, Policy Research, and Scenario Planning. Raphael worked as a Technical Advisor for National Defence at the Secretary of Strategic Affairs of the Brazilian Presidency (SAE/PR); as a Researcher at the governmental think tank Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea); and as a Research Coordinator at the Center for Strategic Studies of the Brazilian Army (CEEEx).

Raphael is a co-founder and secretariat member of the Military Innovation Network, affiliated with the Centre for Science & Security Studies (CSSS), and a researcher at the King's Latin American Security Research Group (LAS).

He also holds a PhD scholarship from Fundação Estudar – a national foundation aiming to support youth leaders to develop their careers and become effective agents of change in Brazil. In the past, he had scholarships and research grants from Brazil’s most influential research foundations, such as the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPQ), and the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES).

Research

• Military innovation and diffusion
• Civil-military relations
• Latin American security
• Brazilian foreign policy
• Scenario-planning and foresight

Raphael’s thesis investigates the diffusion of the US-led post-Cold War military model – the transformation model – to Latin America. His study focuses on why and how the transformation model diffused to Brazil and Colombian armies during their army reform processes from the late 2000s onwards. He employs a comparative methodology to understand the rise and spread of the transformation model since the late 1990s, what elements of this military model diffused worldwide, and what were the organisational, domestic, and international outcomes of this diffusion in Brazil and Colombia.

Publications

Peer reviewed publications

• Carvalho and Lima (2023), ‘The development, security, and defence nexus in Brazil.’ Conflict, Security & Development. v. 23 (2), 93-103.
• Carvalho and Lima (2023), ‘Shaping the security-development nexus in Brazil: the military as a development and state-building actor?’. Conflict, Security & Development. v. 23 (2), 105-133.
• Lima, Silva, and Rudzit (2021), ‘No power vacuum: national security neglect and the defence sector in Brazil’. Defence Studies. v. 21 (1), 84-106.
• Lima (2019), ‘Strategic Communications as a Tool for Great Power Competition in Venezuela’. Defence Strategic Communications, v. 6.

Recent research articles

• Barros, Lima, and Barros (2024). ‘The international engagement of the Brazilian defence sector: challenges and opportunities for the new defence documents’ (in Portuguese). Texto para Discussão Ipea, n. 2973.
• Barros, Lima, and Carneiro (2022), ‘Brazil-Venezuela: The Evolution of bilateral relations and implications of the Venezuelan crisis to the Brazilian global insertion’ (in Portuguese). Texto para Discussão IPEA, n. 2761.

Edited books

• Andrade, Lange, Medeiros and Lima (eds.) (2019). Contemporary Challenges to the Brazilian Army (in Portuguese).

Recent book chapters

• Lima and Medeiros Filho (2019), ‘The Role of the Brazilian Army in Brazil’s Security Sector: implications for National Defence and the Armed Forces’ (in Portuguese). In: Andrade, Lange, Medeiros Filho and Lima (eds.). Desafios Contemporâneos para o Exército brasileiro
• Andrade and Lima (2018), ‘Security and National Defence in Brazilian Borders’ (in Portuguese). In: Pêgo and Rosa (eds.), ‘Fronteiras do Brasil: uma avaliação de política pública – Volume 1’.
• Andrade and Lima (2018), Strategic Partnerships and the Defence Technology Agenda: the case of the Brazil-Sweden Partnership (in Portuguese). In: Desiderá Neto, Florencio, Ramanzini Junior, and Silva Filho (eds.). ‘Política Externa Brasileira em Debate: dimensões e estratégias de inserção internacional no pós-crise de 2008’
• Soares and Lima (2018), US SouthCom (in Portuguese). In: Saint-Pierre and Vitelli (eds.). Dicionário de Segurança e Defesa.

Policy papers and reports

• Carvalho (ed.), Natale, Lima, Pereira, Passos, Svartman, and Bascule (2022). ‘Parliamentary Capacities in Defence and Security in Brazil’. KODLA Policy Series 2022, n. 1. King’s Observatory of Democracy in Latin America (KODLA), in Portuguese.
• Carvalho (ed.), Natale, Lima, Pereira, Passos, Svartman, and Bascule (2022). ‘Defence and security in Brazil: what role for the Parliament?’. KODLA Policy Series 2022, n. 1. King’s Observatory of Democracy in Latin America (KODLA).
• Medeiros Filho and Lima (2019), ‘The future of warfare: summary and recommendations’ (in Portuguese). Análise Estratégica, v. 11.
• Ipea (2017). Brazil 2035: Scenarios for National Development (in Portuguese).

Please see Raphael's research profile for a full list of publications.