Brazil under Cardoso: neoliberalism and developmentism

Abstract

This article has got three parts. The first makes an exam of the processes of conquest of the power of the State, which culminated in the reelection of FHC, using the concept of hegemony and the idea of Machiavellian moment derived from Pocock. The second part shows that the new political block in charge, besides its liberal and internationalizating orientation, polarizes itself between two opposed versions of liberalism, the neoliberal fundamentalism and the liberal-developmentism. It also discusses the social economical effects of the adoption of the neoliberalism by the government as an axe of its macroeconomic policy. The third part analyses the political reasons, which guided the presidency reiteratedly to this choice. The suggested hypothesis are that the Presidency of the Republic interpreted the maintenance of the neoliberal fundamentalism as a decisive way of assuring the necessary control over the political system. At the end it is suggested that the macroeconomical changes that started in January 1999 are the basis for a liberal-developmentist reorientation of the government.