Brazil: A Century of Change (review)

The book surveys a hundred years of development in Brazil and provides insights for what to expect in the future. It is an edited volume with contributions of both academics and practitioners. As such, it is not an academic book, partially because some of its chapters are highly politicized. Moreover, as in many edited books, quality varies widely: there are good chapters, fair chapters, bad chapters, and, unfortunately, a chapter that you must just skip. Although there is nothing wrong with a politicized book, readers should be fully aware of this.

Regarding the politicized nature of this book, the "Foreword" by Jerry Dávila is particularly worrisome. In his attempt to establish a common thread along the book, Dávila states that the views portrayed in the book represent "the emerging consensus among political groups about the paradigms of governance, economic, and social policy". This is far from the truth. First, consensus of this kind cannot be found even within the ranks of the ruling Workers Party (PT), let alone along the myriad of parties in the Brazilian Congress. Second, despite the less radical economic views adopted by Brazilian President Luiz Ignazio "Lula" Da Silva, some opposition parties disapprove the recent increases in the size of the state and are likely to stall or reverse this trend after the 2010 elections. Thirdly, perhaps we could say that there is a consensus in terms of social policy. Lula embraced his predecessor's (Fernando Henrique Cardoso) social distribution plan, taking it to new levels significantly ameliorating the life of the poor. However, even in the social arena, there is still a debate: some critics accuse Lula's Bolsa Familia program of being clearly a populist. The distribution plan has been such a success and counts with such a popular support among the poor that it inconceivable that a candidate can win the upcoming presidential election with rhetoric against Bolsa Familia.

Good Chapters. Celso Lafer makes a good summary of Brazil's recent role in the world's diplomatic arena, although his views are based on his role as former Ministry of Foreign Affairs rather than on an analysis of current Brazilian diplomacy. Indeed, Lula's foreign policy has differed somewhat from Celso Lafer's views. Renato Ortiz provides an analysis of the inter-relationship between cultural and social development in Brazil in the last century. Luiz Carlos Bresser Pereira surveys the interesting transition of the role of the Brazilian state in the last century from a patrimonial one to a managerial one. Finally, José Seixas Lourenço also tackles the change of the role of the State, but in terms of government initiatives to foster economic development, particularly in the Amazon region.

Fair Chapters. Hervé Thery's Chapter is a fair cartographic and statistical description of Brazil from 1890s onwards. His chapter, however, is not informed by economic history, which leads to unsatisfactory explanations of demographic trends and regional inequality. For instance, he did not consider internal or foreign migrations to explain demographic changes, nor does he mention the role of railroads, telegraphs, postal communications, or telephones to explain regional disparities. The Chapter by Afrânio Garcia and Moacir Palmeira is a very thorough piece on agrarian and social transformation. However, they put too much emphasis on the prevailing view in old literature that portrayed of rural workers as a group exploited by capitalists, and did not consider different types of resistance available to rural workers. The chapter, however, provides a decent description of the conflicts in the Brazilian countryside that gave rise to social movements such as the MST (Landless Workers Movement). Finally, although no one can deny the high inequalities existing in Brazilian society and the limited access to justice or opportunities for a better life among the poor, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro's chapter explains this inequality as a result of a Machiavellian plan by the elites to exploit the hurdles of the...