Paulo Afonso Velasco Júnior is currently Associate Professor of International Politics at the Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ). He holds a PhD in Political Science from the Institute of Social and Political Studies of the Rio de Janeiro State University (IESP-UERJ) and a Masters from the Institute of International Relations of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (IRI-PUC-Rio). He is a senior fellow at the Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI). His research focuses on Brazilian foreign policy and regionalism.