Switzerland has city state written all over it. Even down to the way it's governed. It was never a grand civilisation, just a little survivor between the meat grinders of france, germany and the alps.
I would like to see Brazil, but that's not exactly a world leader by any means yet, it's only just jumped ahead of the UK in GDP. It's got lots of food and they speak Portguese, but they haven't really had any history yet.
Brazil has a lot of history and fought most of the wars that happened in south america. I can easly say that our history is so full of events as the USA history. The problem is that we were really isolated from the rest of the world. Nobody understand our language. To make things worse, Brazil gave his back to the others counties in Latin America. They speak spanish and share the same heroes, they have a lot more in common between themselves and really form a "comunity". Brazil is that strange big neighbour.
I kind like the notion of a Gran Colombia as a civ, it would represent more countries of Latin America. My problem is that would be a fictional civ, and Im not a fan of this.
Just to bring some positive points to justify Brazil as a civ:
- Religion is really a big deal here. We are the biggest catholic and evangelic country in the world. (theres literally one church every corner down here). So, we can be portrait as a religious civ in the game.
- We are the worlds top exporter of lots of commodities. From food to minerals. So we can be portrait as a commercial civ too.
Theres also the obvious reasons, Brazil ocuppies more than half of south america, is the world 6 economy (FMI says we will be the 3 in 15 years), we have 20% of the worlds fresh water, the Amazon, the biodiversity goods (medicines), 200 million pop, an decent army.
The con of Brazil is that we didnt have a major part on the world in the past and sure we are not a world leader (depends what you call a world leader). Brazil, China and India acts as a bloc on all major international negotiations, so...hell yes..you better listen what we have to say if you want to have a consumer market or something to eat.
I prefer ancient powers like the summerians and hitites, but if modern civs will be in the game, Brazil surely is a contender.
Our science is weak, our governament corrupt, our society hugely unfair...but hey, we surely know how to play football and how to party. Firaxis, put Brazil on ciV and we will deliver the fun this game needs! BTW, its carnaval time!