Brazil: The Lula Government and Financial Globalization

Abstract

The electoral victory of Luis Inacio "Lula" da Silva in the presidential elections of 2002 epitomized two decades of social and political transformations in Brazil. Nevertheless, instead oflaunching an alternative mode ofdoing politics, the program of the Workers' Party affirmed a state logic with a view to gradually updating the economic structure of Brazilian capitalism by means of successive transitions directed by the state, avoiding the active intervention of the subaltern classes in this process. In this logic are inscribed fiscal discipline, social security reform, and giving value to private pension funds. Such funds established a bridge that makes viable the organic alliance ofa union bureaucracy, now the manager of these funds, and globalized financial capital.

Corporate Movements in Democratic Brazil: Informal Business Networks, Civil Activism, and Political Influence

“…In June 2002, Lula published his famous ‘Carta ao Povo Brasileiro’ (Letter to the Brazilian People), claiming that the PT represented a ‘broad alliance between popular and industrial sectors’ (Da Silva, ). By then, the PT had moderated its socialist orientation: against more radical sectors of the party, Lula promoted a hybrid neo‐developmentalism – termed ‘social liberalism’ by Bianchi and Braga () and ‘left neoliberalism’ by Morais and Saad‐Filho () – that combined the expansion of financial and export‐oriented activities with the extension of social protection, aiming to ‘democratise and modernise the country, making it fairer, efficient and, at the same time, more competitive in international markets’ (Da Silva, ). In the words of Guido Mantega – then principal advisor to Lula, later Minister of Planning and Chairman of the Banco Nacional do Desenvolvimento (BNDES, National Development Bank) – the PT's project did not aspire to make capitalism more efficient, but rather to make it ‘more human’ (quoted in Bianchi and Braga, : 1753).…”

Constructing Twenty-First Century Socialism in Latin America

“…The bureaucratized leadership and dominant tendencies such as Articulação concentrated political power in terms of appointments of candidates and the making of significant political decisions. They also hollowed out party education and organizing in the grassroots (Bianchi and Braga, 2005). The logics of dedemocratization and pursuit of power meant that no consistent political work was done to connect the party with the new generations of youth who were promised democracy, development, and a say in politics, and yet were surrounded by continuing inequalities, deteriorating public services, and a continent in multiple uprisings.…”

“…While in government the PT developed a strategy that depoliticized and individualized social policy to the Brazilian poor. Key to this is Bolsa Familia-a targeted conditional transfer of funds-highly praised by the World Bank that has its greatest distribution in the northeast (Bianchi and Braga, 2005;Oliveira, 2007). While reducing absolute poverty this had no intention of creating universal public services, but rather disciplinary social policy mechanisms that maintain the fragmented and individualized relationships of the informal popular classes with the state (and the PT as the democratic face of a neoliberal disciplinary state).…”

Determinants of Latin American Activism: Domestic and Transnational Political Opportunities and Threats

“…From the 1960s to the 1980s, many Latin American countries experienced brutal dictatorships. More recently, with countries like Brazil under Lula (Bianchi and Braga 2005;Sader 2006), Bolivia under Evo Morales (Goméz 2006;Salman 2007), and Ecuador with Rafael Correa (Conaghan 2008), Latin America experienced a greater shift to the left of the political spectrum (Castañeda and Morales 2008;Morales 2008), creating further opportunities for activists as elite stability shifted and new allies championed their causes. As states in the region democratize and shift to the political Left, civil society flourishes and the threat of political repression diminishes, encouraging the growth of social movement groups within the region (de Almeida et al 2000;Muñoz 2008;Rothman and Oliver 1999;Welch 2006;Wolford 2007).…”