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The Political Construction of Brazil: Society, Economy, and State Since Independence

Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira
The Political Construction of Brazil: Society, Economy, and State Since Independence
ISBN: 978-1- 62637-307-5
$29.95
ISBN: 978-1-62637-569-7
$29.95
2017/419 pages/LC: 2016016855
"Bresser-Pereira's new book is bound to be a classic in the political economy literature on Brazil." —José de Arimatéia da Cruz, Latin American Politics and Society

"A magisterial history of Brazil emphasizing economic phases and industrial policies.... The author traces the theoretical origins and innovations of the neo-developmentalism school of political economy, drawing on extensive research in Portuguese not easily accessible to American readers (and admirable English translation enhances readability). The book is less a standard historical narrative than a retrospective on Brazil's past economic and political struggles interpreted through the theoretical lens of new developmentalism."—Choice

"A big and bold book by a leading Brazilian public intellectual and scholar-practitioner. Whether or not one agrees with his conclusions, Bresser-Pereira reaches deep into the history of the turbulent twentieth century to set the terms for a new debate on Brazil's development in the twenty-first."—Matthew Taylor, American University

DESCRIPTION

Spanning the period from the country’s independence in 1822 through mid-2016, Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira assesses the trajectory of Brazil's political, social, and economic development. Bresser-Pereira draws on his decades of first-hand experience to shed light on the many paradoxes that have characterized Brazil's polity, its society, and the relations between the two across nearly two centuries.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira is professor emeritus of politics and economics at the Getulio Vargas Foundation. In addition to his long academic career, he has served as Brazil's minister of finance, minister of federal administration and state reform, and minister of science and technology, and also as secretary of the government of the state of São Paulo.

CONTENTS

  • Introduction.
  • Brazil: a History of Long Cycles and Short Political Pacts.
  • Colonial Constraints: Why Brazil Was Left Behind.
  • THE FIRST CYCLE: THE STATE AND TERRITORIAL INTEGRATION.
  • For Reasons of State: Territorial Integration.
  • Herding Oligarchs: Empire, Constitutionalism, and Federalism.
  • The First Republic: Prerequisite to Brazil's Capitalist Revolution.
  • THE SECOND CYCLE: THE NATION AND DEVELOPMENT.
  • Igniting Capitalism: The Profitable Revolution of 1930.
  • Imperialism and Industrialization: The 1930 National-Popular Pact.
  • Crisis, Coup, and Democracy: Resuming Developmentalism after 1945.
  • Coffee, Cold War, and Coup (Again): The End of the National-Popular Pact.
  • The Crisis of the 1960s: Inflation and the Emergence of Popular Participation.
  • The Military in Power: The Authoritarian-Modernizing Pact.
  • The Logic of Domination: The Limits of Dependency Theory.
  • Neutralizing the Dutch Disease: Exporting Manufactured Goods.
  • The Military in Office: Rise and Decline in the 1970s.
  • THE THIRD CYCLE: DEMOCRACY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE.
  • The Democratic Popular Pact: The Bourgeoisie and the Working Class.
  • The Lost Decade: Stagnation and Inertial Inflation in the 1980s.
  • The Crisis of 1987: The Collapse of the Democratic-Popular Pact.
  • From Elite to Social Democracy: The 1988 Constitution.
  • Neoliberal Rule: Privatization and the 1991 Liberal-Dependent Pact.
  • Tackling High Inflation: The Real Plan.
  • Liberal Rhetoric: The Trap of Overvalued Exchange Rates and High Interest Rates.
  • Lula, Dilma, and the Alienation of the Elites.
  • The Pact that Never Was.
  • The Quasi-Stagnation Since 1981.
  • Preference for Immediate Consumption and Loss of the Idea of Nation.
  • CONCLUSION.
  • Brazil's Capitalist Revolution, Democracy ... and Then?