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Title: Charting a New Course by Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Mauricio Font ISBN: 0-7425-0893-5 Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield (Non NBN) Pub. Date: 28 May, 2001 Format: Textbook Binding Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $36.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: From Theory to Practice: a Scholar turned President
Comment: This is an excellent reading to better understand the intellectual trajectory of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the renowned Latin American scholar turned politician and currently Brazil's President. Through a well thought-out chronological selection of Cardoso's texts by the book's editor Mauricio Font, the reader is able to follow the evolution of Cardoso's views on "dependency," politics and democracy, social organization, development and globalization. As Professor Robert Alexander concludes in his Choice review of November 1, 2001, this book "should be of particular interest to those interested in globalization and its impact on developing nations."
Rating: 1
Summary: Be careful, intellectuals can be hazardous to your wealth
Comment: In his introduction, Mr.Font identifies Fernando Henrique Cardoso as a "World class intellectual" and hails his success in stabilizing the Brazillian economy. He then repeats the word 'intellectual' no less than nineteen times in the first five pages. This reminded me of Arthur C. Clarke author of "2001, A Space Odysey" whose definition of an intellectual is "Someone who has been educated beyond his or her intelligence." As for the stability of the Brazillian economy, more later.
The problem with so-called intellectuals in Brazil is that Georg Hegel(1770-1831) of the police-state philosophy and and Karl Marx(1818-1883) economic determinism are the end of history and there is nothing else worth considering. On page 75 Cardoso says "A study of the history of ideas in the twentieth century would show that each generation of critical intellectuals seeks to revive Marxism with anew breath of life. The crust of so-called "vulgar Marxism" is so recurring that it must have something to do with Marxism itself." Perhaps because Cardoso is a former teacher, and recalls the old axiom of "publish or perish", he is prone to taking a clear, concise proposition and expanding it into a chapter obfuscated with dialectic garbage.
Cardoso writes a great deal about democracy and democratization. The reader must recognise that his definitions are much different from ours, particularly "radicalized democracy". Cardoso governs by Medidas Provisorias which require legislative approval (similar to our Executive Orders). When he gets a rubber stamp approval he hails this as democracy in action. If the approval is not forthcoming, he has other less complimentary words. His knee-jerk approach to issuing MPs frequently requires repeated revisions before he gets them right. In the last seven years he has issued 237 MPs requiring 4,032 reeditions.
Cardoso is a friend of Anthony Giddens of the London School of Economics, proponent of what is called "The Third Way". The Third way is not a creation of Giddens. It originated in Germany under Adolph Hitler's National Socialist party. When ask why he did not nationalize industry, Hitler replied "I don't need to, the owners will do what I tell them to do." Cardoso has privatized a great deal of what was government owned industry but for different reasons. Brazil does not have a free market economy but a central planned economy keyed to providing maximum employment. They do not have any understanding or concern for market demand. If an industry such as steel or sugar produces more than the market needs, they look for a wy to dump the excess at below cost. The United States and Canada have both passed antidumping laws which Cardoso calls unfair.
When the Real Plan was introduced on Friday, 1 July 1994, 1 Real equaled 1 US Dollar. On Monday, 4 July 1994 when people went to exchange their money, the value of the Real had been inflated to US$1.05. They were encouraged to exchange their 'weak' dollars for 'strong' Reals. Few people realized that 4 July was American holiday and all US banks and financial institutions were closed. In a short time the value of the Real was inflated to US$1.20. The Cardoso goverment went on a borrow and spend for about three years until it could not borrow any more and had to be bailed out by the IMF to the tune of about 40 billion dollars. Today the Real is only worth about 40 US cents, the public debit is about forty percent of the gross domestic product, electricity is rationed, and Brazil is back at the IMF looking for another 19 billion to tide it over till Cardoso leaves office. What course has he charted for himself, I wonder.
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Title: Dependency and Development in Latin America by Fernando E. Cardoso, Faletto Enzo, Enzo Faletto, Marjory M. Urquidi ISBN: 0520035275 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: March, 1979 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: After the Washington Consensus: Restarting Growth and Reform in Latin America by Pedro-Pablo Kuczynski, John Williamson ISBN: 0881323470 Publisher: Institute for International Economics Pub. Date: 01 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Putin's Russia by Lilia Shevtsova ISBN: 0870032011 Publisher: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Pub. Date: February, 2004 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics by Joseph S. Nye ISBN: 1586482254 Publisher: PublicAffairs Pub. Date: 16 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: In Defense of Globalization by Jagdish N. Bhagwati ISBN: 0195170253 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: March, 2004 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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