["Bulletin of Latin American Research, Volume 45, Issue 2, April 2026. ", "\nABSTRACT\nThis article analyses the trajectories and worldviews of three central architects of Brazilian foreign policy during Lula's first two terms—Marco Aurélio Garcia, Samuel Pinheiro Guimarães and Celso Amorim. It argues that their progressive and anti‐imperialist orientations, aligned with the Workers' Party's broader project, were decisive in shaping the foundations of the ‘assertive foreign policy’ that marked the PT era. By contrasting their perspectives with liberal and conservative traditions within the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and with interpretations that explain the period primarily through the lenses of bourgeois hegemony, the study shows how their influence forged a foreign policy committed to sovereignty, multipolarity, regional integration and South–South solidarity, with lasting impact on Brazil's international role.\n"]