Re: Fernando Henrique Cardoso

Victor O. Story (story@kutztown.edu)
Sun, 28 Jan 1996 21:29:39 -0500 (EST)

None of what Cardosa said (see below) indicates he rejects a more
democratic form of capitalism than that of Brazil's past, nor that he
thinks market economy or militarism per se are Brazil's problem, rather
the underdevelopment of a state not integrated with the society. Maybe
he thinks it is better to work with what he has and actually try to
improve his country instead of just writing about it. That is admirable.

Victor

On Sat, 27 Jan 1996 hbtdl16m@umiami.ir.miami.edu wrote:

>
> I certainly disagree with Victor's comments below, particularly with the
> comment about Cardoso's underlying purpose being a "national capitalist
> market."
>
> In Cardoso's own words, he explicitly rejects capitalism and proposes
> socialism as the best solution. He wrote:
> "It is not realistic to imagine that captalist development will solve
> the basic problems for the majority of the population. In the end, what
> has to be discussed as an alternative is not the consolidation of the
> state and the fulfillment of 'autonomous capitalism,' but how to superced
> them. The important question, then, is how to construct paths toward
> socialism." (Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Enzo Faletto, Dependency and
> Development in Latin America (Berkeley: University of California Press,
> 1979), p. xxiv.
>
> Cardoso, in fact blames the bourgeoise developmentalists and the
> state (the military government) for facilitating the situation of
> dependency. He writes, ". . . the state has assumed an increasingly
> repressive character, and dominant classes in a majority of countries
> have proposed policies increasingly removed from popular interest. They
> have rendered viable a "peripheral" capitalist development, adopting a
> growth model based on replication--almost in caricature of the
> consumption styles and industrialization patterns of the central
> capitalist countries . . . . Under these conditions, the state and the
> nation have become separated" (Carsoso and Faletto, 201-02).
>
> For better or worse, Cardoso is a changed person in this changed world.
>
> Please comment. Thanks,
>
> Joe
>
> On Fri, 26 Jan 1996, Victor O. Story wrote:
>
> > Maybe it is not paradoxical at all. Cardoso's fame for dependency
> > analysis appealled to nationalists in the military and bourgeoisie as
> > much as to the left - developing a self-sustaining national capitalist
> > market was the underlying purpose of dependency analysis - the language
> > seemed Marxist, but the larger context of Cardoso's ideas were frustrated
> > nationalism.
> >
> > Victor
> >
> > On Wed, 24 Jan 1996 mmagalha@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu wrote:
> >
> > > Dear lasneteiros, I am embarking on a project (co-authoring) to explain the
> > > apparent paradox of Fernando henrique Cardoso being elected President of
> > > Brasil with the support of the country's principal conservative elites. I
> > > need to gather information on 1) his political career before becoming a
> > > candidate for President (i know he was a senator from the state of Sao Paulo
> > > beginning in 1978 and that he was an ambassador (to the US??) and then
> > > finance minister under Franco); 2) his presidential campaign (how did he
> > > position himself as a centrist candidate?); and 3) his record as president.
> > > Does anyone have any idea on where I can locate this information? Thanks.
> > > Mariano Magalhaes
> > >
> >
>