From Interdependence to Neo-mercantilism

Abstract

The Cardoso era was more paradoxical than globalization scholars have been willing to acknowledge. Whereas the literature anticipated denationalization, the opposite was observed in Brazil. The assumption of leadership by the local bourgeoisie was linked with a general increase in the international competitiveness of Brazilian capitalism. This was the outcome of three government policies: the attraction of international capital to renewed investment in basic infrastructure, the reorganization of the boundaries between domestic capital and multinationals to increase productivity, and the transformation of the internal market into the main source of capital accumulation. The transition was, however, incomplete. In the last two years of Cardoso's second administration, faced by political pressure and external crises, Brazilian elites opted to return to a neo-mercantilist approach to development.