Maria Hermínia Tavares de Almeida is a researcher at the Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning (Cebrap) and retired full professor of political science at the University of São Paulo, where she directed the Institute of International Relations (2009-2013). She recently published "The Golden Years - Essays on Democracy in Brazil (Ed. Horizontes, Lisbon, 2019)" and with Gian Luca Gardini, "Foreign Policy Responses to The Rise of Brazil - Balancing Power in Emerging States" (Palgrave-McMillan, 2016). She is a Commander of the Order of Scientific Merit (2006) and received the Award for Scientific Excellence in Political Science from the National Association of Graduate Studies and Research in Social Sciences (2013). She is a columnist for the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, a member of the Arns Commission for the Defense of Human Rights, the Board of Trustees of the Padre Anchieta Foundation (TV Cultura) and the Board of "Action for Democracy" and the Latin American Program of the Woodrow Wilson Center (Washington DC). Founding member of the D. Paulo Evaristo Arns Commission for the Defense of Human Rights (Arns Commission).