Accumulation and authoritarianism on the pioneer frontier of Brazil

Abstract

The essay addresses the relationship between pioneer frontier and State in Brazil: departing from an empirical investigation of the roles of law, bureaucracy and violence on the frontier itself, on the one hand, and an assessment of the major interpretations of the State, on the other, the argument focuses on the forms of mediation which characterize the State, and which constitute the social forces in struggle — both on the frontier and elsewhere in the society. It concludes that only by specifying the political content of such mediations can analytical distinctions be drawn between different forms of capitalist State.

Notes

Lecturer in Government, University of Essex.

I wish to thank Gustavo d'Angelo for his comments and criticism: by disagreeing with much of the argument he greatly contributed to it.