Playing with Diplomatic Culture: A Comparative Study of Esports Policies in South Korea and Brazil

This article proposes an analysis of public policies aimed at electronic sports (esports) as a tool for cultural diplomacy in South Korea and Brazil. Its objective is to determine whether esports are used by these states as a foreign policy resource to achieve absolute gains in the international sphere, based on a qualitative analysis of data obtained from South Korean and Brazilian legislation on the subject. The corpus consists of 50 documents addressing this theme, retrieved from the official websites of the South Korean and Brazilian governments. Among the main findings, the South Korean government's consolidated approach to esports stands out. In contrast, Brazil lacks a public policy consensus regarding the subject. However, some international public prestige gains are achieved, even though the state's foundations regarding esports remain incipient. This study presents originality by exploring potential connections between the field of International Relations and the universe of electronic sports, a growing expression of contemporary youth culture.