Neodevelopmentalist state capitalism in Brazil and Argentina: chances, limits and contradictionsh

Abstract

This article critically analyses the recent reinvigoration of state capitalist economic strategies, guided by neodevelopmentalist political thought, in Brazil and Argentina. It makes use of analytical tools drawn from materialist state theory and dependency perspectives to show how the chances, limits and contradictions of these projects are shaped by the basic dynamics of peripheral capitalism. Thus, while both the Brazilian and Argentine state capitalist strategies have been relatively successful on many counts, especially compared to the previously dominant neoliberal paradigm, their social and economic balance has remained ambiguous overall. While in the Brazilian case there has been no fundamental break with the historical pattern of exclusionary growth, Argentina has achieved better social results, but at the price of heightened political instability. Neither country has managed to overcome classical problems of dependent development, such as a dependence on primary goods exports.