Neo-mercantilist Capitalism and Post-2008 Cleavages in Economic Decision-making Power in Brazil

Abstract

The 2008 subprime crisis led to a global wave of bailouts and other political-economic measures by governments. These moves were seen as the rise of a new statism. Emerging giants, such as Brazil, introduced new growth policies and reinforced state-crediting of corporations. This article briefly discusses key institutional, structural and ideological lineages and dilemmas in post-2008 statism and capitalism in Brazil. Neo-mercantilist capitalism is visible, for example, in the new ‘National Champions’ strategy aiming to create export-focused, leading global-sector corporations via mergers orchestrated by key politicians, capitalists and state financial institutions. Changes after a bailout–merger in the paper industry suggest that, after the 2008 financial crisis, in Brazil as elsewhere the use of public funds has had multiple and complex impacts, including the saving of corporations, the concentration of power in those best connected in the political economy, and further exacerbation of class-based inequalities in economic decision making.

Notes

1 B Gills, ‘Going South: capitalist crisis, systemic crisis, civilisational crisis’, Third World Quarterly, 31(2), 2010, pp 169–184.

2 L Bresser-Pereira, ‘The global financial crisis and a new capitalism?’, Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, 32(4), 2010, pp 499–534.

3 J Abu-El Haj, ‘From interdependence to neo-mercantilism: Brazilian capitalism in the age of globalization’, Latin American Perspectives, 34(5), 2007, p 109.

4 Bresser-Pereira, ‘The global financial crisis and a new capitalism?’.

5 G Arbix & S Martin, ‘Beyond developmentalism and market fundamentalism in Brazil: inclusionary state activism without statism’, paper presented at a workshop on ‘States, Development, and Global Governance’, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2010.

6 See D Collier & R Collier, ‘Who does what, to whom, and how: toward a comparative analysis ofLatin American corporatism’, in J Malloy (ed), Authoritarianism and Corporatism in Latin America,Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1977; E Diniz, Voto e Máquina Política: Patronagem e Clientelismo no Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, 1982; T Power & M Doctor, ‘Another century of corporatism? Continuity and change in Brazil's corporatist structures’, in H Wiarda (ed), Authoritarianism and Corporatism in Latin America—Revisited, Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2004; and M Pochmann, A Guerra, R Amorim & R Silva (eds), Atlas da Nova Estratificação Social no Brasil: Classe Média, Desenvolvimento e Crise, São Paulo: Cortez Editora, 2006.

7 J Zysman, ‘How institutions create historically rooted trajectories of growth’, Industrial and Corporate Change, 3, 1994, pp 243–283; P Evans, Embedded Autonomy: States & Industrial Transformation, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995; and P Hall & R Taylor, ‘Political science and the three new institutionalisms’, Political Studies, XLIV, 1996, pp 936–957.

8 P Evans, Dependent Development: The Alliance of Multinational, State and Local Capital in Brazil, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1979; Evans, ‘Constructing the 21st century developmental state: potentialities and pitfalls’, in O Edigheji (ed), Constructing a Democratic Developmental State in South Africa: Potentials and Challenges, Capetown: hsrc Press, 2010, pp 37–58; and R Almeida, ‘Entrando no clube: O bndes e a inserção Brasileira no capitalismo internacional’, in R Boschi (ed), Variedades de capitalismo, política e desenvolvimento na América Latina, Belo Horizonte: Editora ufmg, 2011, pp 164–193.

9 Bresser-Pereira, ‘The global financial crisis and a new capitalism?’.

10 CEPAL, The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America, promulgated a particular structuralist developmentalism. CEPAL-type structuralism emphasized centre-periphery relations to explain underdevelopment. The focus was on regulating international trade policy; this developmentalism flourished from the 1940s to the 1960s.

11 R Boschi, ‘Instituiç[otilde]es, trajetórias e desenvolvimento’, in Boschi, Variedades de capitalismo, política e desenvolvimento na América Latina, p 13.

12 A Zhouri, ‘“Adverse forces” in the Brazilian Amazon: developmentalism versus environmentalism and indigenous rights’, Journal of Environment & Development, 19(3), 2010, pp 252–273.

13 ‘Brazil's new president: coming down to earth’, The Economist, 28 December 2010.

14 E Diniz & R Boschi, Empresários, Interesses e Mercado—Dilemas do Desenvolvimento no Brasil, Belo Horizonte: Editora ufmg, 2004.

15 G Parra-Bernal, ‘Brazil beefs up bndes budget by 100 billion reais’, 2009, at http://market memorandum.blogspot.com/2009/01/brazil-beefs-up-bndes-budget-by-100.html.

16 ‘Brazil's new president’.

17 See, for example, Bresser-Pereira, ‘The global financial crisis and a new capitalism?’; and R Boschi, ‘Instituiç[otilde]es, trajetórias e desenvolvimento’, pp 7–31.

18 Zhouri, ‘“Adverse forces” in the Brazilian Amazon’.

19 S Lazzarini, Capitalismo de laços: Os donos de Brasil e suas conex[otilde]es, Rio de Janeiro: Elsevier, 2011.

20 J Campbell, ‘Problems of institutional analysis’, in Campbell, Institutional Change and Globalization, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004.

21 P Evans, Embedded Autonomy.

22 E Diniz & R Boschi, Empresários, Interesses e Mercado; A Boito, ‘Estado e burguesia no capitalismo neoliberal’, Revista de Sociologia e Política, 28, 2007, pp 57–73; and W Mancuso, ‘O empresariado como ator político no Brasil: balanço da literatura e agenda de pesquisa’, Revista de Sociologia e Política, 28, 2007, pp 131–146.

23 O Viana, Populaç[otilde]es Meridionais do Brasil: História-Organizacão-Psychologia, São Paulo: Monteiro Lobato & Cia Editores, 1922; and J Carvalho, ‘Mandonismo, coronelismo, clientelismo: uma discussão conteitual’, Dados, 40, 1997, pp 229–250.

24 Lazzarini, Capitalismo de laços, p 119.

25 T Power & M Doctor, ‘Another century of corporatism?’.

26 B Schneider, ‘A comparative political economy of diversified business groups, or how states organize big business’, Review of International Political Economy, 16(2), 2009, pp 178–201.

27 M Doctor, ‘Lula's development council: neo-corporatism and policy reform in Brazil’, Latin American Perspectives, 34, 2007, pp 131–148.

28 J Berterretche, ‘Brasil petista: social-liberalismo com vocação “desenvolvimentista”’, Desacatobrasil, 15 October 2010, at http://desacato.info/2010/10/brasil-petista-social-liberalismo-con-vocacion-%E2%80%9Cdesarrollista%E2%80%9D/.

29 O Globo (Rio de Janeiro), 12 May 2011, p 11.

30 Lazzarini, Capitalismo de laços, p 119; and F Cardoso & E Faletto, Dependency and Development in Latin America, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1979.

31 Lazzarini, Capitalismo de laços, p 14.

32 E Gomes, ‘Reforming with the reforms: liberalization, democratization and corporatist institutions in Brazil’, paper presented to the International Studies Association Annual Meeting, Montreal, 2004.

33 Abu-El Haj, ‘From interdependence to neo-mercantilism’, p 110.

34 M Medeiros, O que faz os Ricos ricos: O outro lado da desigualdade brasileira, São Paulo: Editora Hucitec, 2005, p 251.

35 M Eakin, Tropical Capitalism: The Industrialization of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, New York: Palgrave, 2001, pp 173–174.

36 Berterretche, ‘Brasil petista’.

37 Medeiros, O que faz os Ricos ricos.

38 Pochmann et al, Atlas da Nova Estratificação Social no Brasil.

39 M Medeiros, O que faz os Ricos ricos, p 251.

40 Bresser-Pereira, ‘The global financial crisis and a new capitalism?’.

41 Lazzarini, Capitalismo de laços, p 111.

42 For a review of the positive changes, see C Santana, ‘Conjuntura crítica, legados institucionais e comunidades epistêmicas: limites e possibilidades de uma agenda de desenvolvimento no Brasil’, in Boschi, Variedades de capitalismo, política e desenvolvimento na América Latina, pp 121–163.

43 ‘Brazil's north-east: catching up in a hurry’, The Economist, 19 May 2011.

44 Aracruz Celulose, ‘Material information release’, 19 January 2009.

45 V Bacchetta, ‘La industria de la celulosa y la crisis mundial: desensillando hasta que aclare’, 17 October 2009, at www.ecoportal.net.

46 ‘Demiss[otilde]es nas papeleiras’, Correio Braziliense (Brasilia), 4 May 2009.

47 Fibria, ‘Institutional—about us’, 2011, at http://www.fibria.com.br/web/en/institucional/quem.htm.

48 bndes, ‘bndes aprova financiamento de R$ 2,7 bilh[otilde]es para a Eldorado’, 6 June 2011, at http://www.bndes.gov.br/SiteBNDES/bndes/bndes_pt/Institucional/Sala_de_Imprensa/Noticias/2011/indus tria/20110606_eldorado.html.

49 Lazzarini, Capitalismo de laços, p 106.

50 Sinticel-es, Suport-es, Rede Alerta, Famopes, mndh-es, fase, mst, cut-es, Intersindical da Orla Portuária, Sintrexbem, Sintec-es, Sindimetal-es, Sindilimpe-es, Sintracical-es, Sindiupes & Oposição Sintramassas, A face desumana da Aracruz Celulose (Fibria) contra seus trabalhadores, 15 March 2010, at http://www.adital.com.br/site/noticia.asp?lang=PT&cod=46176.

51 Ibid.

52 Bacchetta, ‘La industria de la celulosa y la crisis mundial’.

53 Aracruz Celulose, ‘Material information release’.

54 Bacchetta, ‘La industria de la celulosa y la crisis mundial’.

55 Sinticel-es et al, A face desumana da Aracruz Celulose (Fibria) contra seus trabalhadores.

56 Interview with Frei Antonio, Missionario Comboniano and founder of Justiça nos Trilhos, Açailandia, Maranhão, 17 March 2011.

57 bndes, ‘O fat e o bndes’, 2011, at http://www.bndes.gov.br/SiteBNDES/bndes/bndes_pt/Institucion al/BNDES_Transparente/Fundos/Fat/fat_bndes.html.

58 R Boschi & F Gaitán, ‘Politics and development: lessons from Latin America’, Brazilian Political Science Review, 3(2), 2009, pp 11–29.

59 R Almeida, ‘Entrando no clube’, pp 177–180.

60 A Ferrer, ‘Desarrollo comparado: Argentina, Brasil y Chile’, La Mañana (Buenos Aires), 28 September 2010.

61 R de Almeira, ‘Eike Batista, o brasileiro que quer ser o mais rico do mundo’, iG Economia, 2011, at http://economia.ig.com.br/eike+batista+o+brasileiro+que+quer+ser+o+mais+rico+do+mundo/n1 237561676494.html.

62 Lazzarini, Capitalismo de laços, p 3.

63 Berterretche, ‘Brasil petista’; and Santana, ‘Conjuntura crítica, legados institucionais e comunidades epistêmicas’.

64 L Casanova, ‘Del “consenso de Washington” al “consenso brasileño”: el nuevo poder empresarial brasileño’, América Economía, April 2010.

65 Bacchetta, ‘La industria de la celulosa y la crisis mundial’.

66 Lazzarini, Capitalismo de laços.

67 Casanova, ‘Del “consenso de Washington” al “consenso brasileño”’.

68 Berterretche, ‘Brasil petista’.

69 Santana, ‘Conjuntura crítica, legados institucionais e comunidades epistêmicas’, p 147.

70 S Fontes, ‘Pesos pesados retornam ao setor florestal’, Valor Econômico, 28 May 2011.

71 See M Kröger & J-E Nylund, ‘The conflict over Veracel pulpwood plantations in Brazil—application of ethical analysis’, Forest Policy and Economics, 14, 2012, pp 74–82.

72 S Scheibe, ‘The history of Brazilian pulp and paper: a contextual approach looking to the future’, power point presentation at the 43rd Pulp and Paper International Congress & Exhibition, 2010, at http://www.abtcp.org.br/arquivos/File/ABTCP%202010/Congresso/05%20de%20outubro/A%20hist %C3%B3ria%20do%20papel%20e%20celulose_Stephen%20Scheibe_All%20Abroad.pdf.

73 C Santana, ‘Conjuntura crítica, legados institucionais e comunidades epistêmicas’, p 136.

74 See K Hochstetler & M Keck, Greening Brazil: Environmental Activism in State and Society, London: Duke University Press, 2007; P Kingstone & A Ponce, ‘From Cardoso to Lula: the triumph of pragmatism in Brazil’, in K Weyland, R Madrid & W Hunter (eds), Leftist Governments in Latin America: Successes and Shortcomings, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010; and W Wolford, ‘Participatory democracy by default: land reform, social movements and the state in Brazil’, Journal of Peasant Studies, 37, 2010, pp 91–109.

75 Gills, ‘Going South’.

76 Lazzarini, Capitalismo de laços, p 13.

77 Ibid, p 112.