Transforming Brazil : a reform era in perspective / Mauricio A. Font.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Font, Mauricio A. (Mauricio Augusto)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Structural adjustment (Economic policy)--Brazil.

Structural adjustment (Economic policy).

Brazil--Politics and government--1985-2002.

Brazil.

Politics and government.

Brazil--Politics and government--2003-.

Brazil--Social policy.

Social policy.

Physical Description:

xiv, 271 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : Rowman & Littlefield, [2003]

Summary:

This book re-examines the relationship between development strategy and political regime in twentieth-century Brazil. The first part of the study examines the beginning in the 1920s and 1930s of the centralized regime and state-centered development model later challenged in the 1980s, taking into account the economic and political role of Sao Paulo relative to the federal government. The analysis provides a distinctive account of the regime ruling Brazil from the 1930s through the 1980s. The second part focuses on the process of economic and political change in the 1980s and 1990s, paying particular attention to the Cardoso administration.

The author's analysis of developmental dynamics of the period before World War II challenges the notion that the Vargas state was the main protagonist in the onset of Brazilian industrialization. The concentration of industrialization in Sao Paulo can be explained in terms of social and economic conditions peculiar to that region. The study chronicles the failure of democratizing after the revolution of 1930, probing the connections between the emergence of modern Brazilian authoritarianism and political dynamics related to regionalism. The account points to continuity in the corporatist system born in the Vargas era through the military era of 1964-85.

Brazilian corporatism and the economic model it embraced came under attack in the 1980s and 1990s. This shift coincides with a period of democratization culminating in the Cardoso administration. Mauricio Font explores the political and institutional factors shaping this transition. He considers whether the economic reforms are leading to a new approach to development and their implications for theconsolidation of democracy. Lastly, the volume brings out the broader significance of the Brazilian case for theories of development and democratic transitions.

Contents:

Chapter 1 A Reform Era in Perspective 1

Chapter 2 From Stabilization to Economic Liberalization 21

Chapter 3 State in Transition 43

Chapter 4 Social Development and Collective Action 75

Chapter 5 Elites and Reform 113

Chapter 6 Toward a New Development Strategy 129

Chapter 7 Democracy, Realignment, and Reform 161

Appendix A Stabilization Plans after 1985 181

Appendix B Fiscal Adjustment Packages 185

Appendix C Planning and Social Development 189

Appendix D Statistical Trends 195

Appendix E Regional Differences 219.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-259) and index.

ISBN:

0847683567

0847683559

OCLC:

50072369