State Autonomy in Economic Policy

Brazil's Experience 1822-1930

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4547723
AutoresSteven Topik (University of California, Irvine, autor correspondente)
Ano1984
Volume26
Fascículo4
Páginas449-476
Data de publicação1984-11-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0022-1937 • E-ISSN: 2162-2736
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/165476
OpenAlexW2783071116
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas20

The crushing weight of Brazil's foreign debt and the enormous role of state enterprise in the economy have led to sharp criticism of public economic policy. Private entrepreneurs and many social scientists complain that the state has become virtually autonomous, subjecting society to its will. The "bureaucratic bourgeoisie" has taken advantage of two decades of authoritarian rule to concentrate power and "mordomias" (perquisites). According to critics, they have thereby caused the national private sector to atrophy and development to halt. The solution suggested by many Brazilians today is redemocratization; by making the state more responsive to civil society its economic presence can be diminished and the private sphere strengthened.The study of Brazil's past experience with changes of regime casts doubt on the possibility of restricting the scope of the state in the economy. It is true that the traditional interpretation argues that the Republican Revolution of 1889 dramatically reduced the state's economic role

Authoritarianism · Autonomy · Bourgeoisie · Bureaucracy · Criticism · Debt · Democracy · Economic system · Economics · Interpretation (philosophy) · Market economy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Private sector · State (computer science) · Economic Theory and Policy · Law · World Systems and Global Transformations