Chapter 1:
As the first chapter in the book, Brazil’s Troubled Rise explains how Brazil is like a world of its own. It begins by providing a background for arguably one of the most influential presidents in Brazil’s history- Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. After losing three presidential elections as a radical left wing socialist, he drifted somewhat closer to the center and was elected into office in 2003. He was hopeful for Brazil as a world power and was aware of its potential. During his terms as president, about thirty million Brazilians climbed out of poverty. Not only did Lula make much progress in domestic affairs, he also made strides in international affairs as well. All throughout Brazilian history there has been a rocky relationship with the United States but on page 5, it was pointed out that Obama sat next to Lula at a United Nations meeting in 2009 and even referred to him as his friend. This chapter also gave some general facts about Brazil as a country. It referred to the country as being a country of “superlatives.” It is the world’s fifth largest country by area- 8.5 million square kilometers to be exact. It is also the world’s fourth most populous democracy with its population being 200 million. It was the seventh largest economy in 2012 and is the third largest food exporter. It is the world leader in plant-based fuels, but is also self sufficient in oil. The second half of this chapter was called “Hope followed by disappointment.” It is a joke in Brazil that the country will always be a land of the future because it is the embodiment of unkept promises. When Lula left office in 2010, problems began to surface. Brazilian manufacturers were uncompetitive, educational performance was low and Brazil’s tax system was oppressive. Income differences were not only visible by power, but residentially as well. The wealthier people owned land or lived in suburbs along the coat while the poor immigrants lived in shanty towns or favelas and often had to deal with police brutality and violence. Lula’s successor, Dilma Rousseff, was unable to distract from these issues like Lula and was able to and was often criticized for them. Dilma was also faced with the challenge of balancing sustainanle growth while confining inflation and dealing with the costs of a glorified currency. She was not very good at this, and often flip flopped on plans and policies. When it was rumored that she was supposed to run again in 2014, there were protests that were used as a “cry of frustration” from the Brazilian people because they saw her government as corrupt. Not mentioned in the book was something that just happened recently within the past few weeks, Dilma Rousseff was impeached from office. In an article on BBC.com, her approval ratings dropped from 79% in 2013 to just 10% in 2016. The main point of this chapter was to highlight that Brazil is a relatively ‘new’ country. There is a frustration among the Brazilian people because of the country’s failures but there is also much potential and along with that potential- hope. Chapter 2: The second chapter, The Brazilian Way of Life, sets the scene for the rest of the book. It provides insight about the geography of Brazil and some facts about its people. First off, the majority of Brazil lies in the tropics and encompasses almost all of the planets countless environments. The country is generally split up by three different rivers which divides Brazil into different regions. Each part of the country is very different from the next. The southeast area is known as the heartland. It is the economic powerhouse of the country and contains the two largest cities in Brazil- Rio de Janiero and Sáo Paulo. The northeastern area is the poorest area in Brazil and historically has been. It is home to at least 53 million people and their average income is only about two-thirds the national average. The centre-west is an agricultural frontier and a fast growing region. It supplies a lot of the country with soybeans, sugar and cotton. The north is two-fifths of Brazils total area, and is comprised of six states. It is neck and neck with the northeast in regards to poverty and the centre-west in regards to population growth. It is also home to the Amazon rainforest and the cities in it, specifically Manaus and Belém. The second part of this chapter is called “Football, the family and other religions.” On page 16, it is said that most Brazilians are described by football, carnival, sex and a tropical exuberance. Football, or American soccer, is part of Brazil’s culture. It has given Brazilians a sense of confidence in themselves because of their success on the field. Their national team is expected to win the World Cup as a “right and an obligation.” Carnival is a huge parade/party/ neighborhood celebration. It is an elaborate choreographed multimedia show combining samba music, singing, and dancing in the streets among the people. The performers dance in ornate costumes called uma fantasia that are often small and revealing. There is a popular saying in Brazil that says, “sin doesn’t exist south of the border.” But contrary to that, Brazil is a deeply religious country. In fact, its most popular landmark is a giant statue of Christ the Redeemer in the city of Rio de Janiero. The major religions in Brazil are Catholic and now Evangelical. Priests use television, social media, and rock music to get the attention of the faithful. Up with Football and Carnival, another unifying custom of Brazil is the telanovela- the television soap opera. The biggest television network in Brazil, Globo TV, retains an audience share of about 50 per cent. The telanovelas often portray small happy families but recently there has been a rise in popularity in soaps about the ‘emerging lower-middle class of the suburbs.’ Family is the fundamental foundation of Brazilian society. The main objective of this chapter was to provide the reader with a picture of the extent of the Brazilian country and its inhabitants. It also provided detail about the lives of the people that occupy the country. Chapter 3: The entirety of the book is split into three sections- Part I: History from Geography, Part II: The Making of Democratic Brazil, and Part III: Prospects. Chapter three, The Foraging of a People, marks the beginning of Part I: History from Geography. King Manoel of Portugal sent out a fleet of thirteen ships under the command of Pedro Álvares Cabral on March 9th, 1500. And after a few stops, Cabral’s fleet landed in Brazil on April 23rd, 1500. When they landed, they were hesitantly greeted by the natives. The native people were part of the Tupi-speaking tribes that inhabited much of the coast. After finding no immediate evidence of metals to keep the King satisfied, he sent another fleet of ships just one year later. This trip wasn’t as famous as the earlier one, but it was the main influence in naming the city of Rio de Janiero, or ‘river of January.’ The next section in this chapter is called “Indians, bandeirantes, and Jesuits.” It talks about how Brazil evolved differently than the British and Spanish colonizers in the Americas. It took a little while for the Portugese crown to pay any importance to Brazil but two things would soon change that: the increased population of French along the coast and the increase of sugar production. Unfortunately, after the settlers made permanent residency the relations between the Indians and the Europeans deteriorated. The Europeans started to view the Indians as devils and their practice of cannibalism made it that much easier for the two to be associated. The Jesuits and other missionary orders were sent to Brazil to incline the Indians into villages, or aldeias, where they would live average lives and learn Christian worship. Around 1580, expeditions led by Portugese and mamelucos created a way of life. They headed westward along the Tietê and other parts of the Paraná river and were called bandeiras. The Bandieras traveled barefoot or by canoe as compared to Spanish conquistadors that traveled on horseback. It is said that when the first bandiera entered the forest, the history of Brazil began. The next part of the chapter is called “Sugar and Slavery.” Almost as soon as the Brazilians permanently settled they began to plant sugar cane. In the 1570’s and 1670’s Brazil was the worlds largest exporter or sugar and now holds that title today. Owning a sugar planation was a cross of intensive farming and a manufacturing process in a mill, labor intensive work that was first done by the Indians but not long after African slaves were imported to do the work. Soon, slavery became a world wide marketable system and unfortunately its foundation was linked with sugar cane. Brazil imported more slaves from Africa over a more prolonged amount of time than any other country. The next part of the chapter is called “Children of God’s Fire” and talked more in depth about slave treatment. The ill treatment of slaves was often shamed and discouraged but the act of owning slaves was not. It also mentions that slave rebellions were fairly common and those could range from single acts of disobedience to a full out organized rebellion. Also oddly, slavery fueled racial segregation in Brazil but not racial prejudice or discrimination. The final section of the chapter is called “Patriarchal society, patrimonial state.” This section concludes all the ideas mentioned earlier in the chapter. It mentions how slavery was the most powerful of Brazils establishments and how it affects all of society. It also mentions how racial mixing would later be considered one of Brazils best advantages in the world. Chapter 4: The fourth chapter in the book is called “From Monarchy to Coffee Republic.” This chapter discusses Brazil’s declaration of independence and its growth from that. The first section in the chapter is all about Brazils declaration of independence from Portugal. After a Liberal rising in Portugal in1820, it was required that the king return so he left his eldest son, Pedro, in charge of Brazil. It was the king’s own son who declared Brazil as an independent country. On September 7th 1822, he was ordered to return to Portugal but it was said that he took the letter and crushed it under his heel. On page 56, the book says Pedro drew his sword and shouted, “Independence or death! We have separated from Portugal!” and this day would go down in history as Brazil’s independence day. He then declared himself emperor and in 1824 imposed a constitution. After his rule, his fifteen-year-old son named Pedro II was installed as monarch in 1840. The predominant political issue of this time was whether a strong central government or self-rule municipalities and provinces would be best for a vast and growing Brazil. The biggest restraint on Brazil’s developing economy was the cost of transportation to different places around the country. The next section of the chapter is called “Abolition, immigration and capitalism.” The last landing of the slave trade in Brazil was in 1855 after a law was passed to create maritime courts to try slave traders. The elimination of the slave trade implied that the end of slavery was not far behind. In 1871, a law was passed that stated that the children of slave mothers would be born free. Finally in 1888, Dom Pedro’s daughter, Princess Isabel, signed the ‘Golden Law’, which simply stated “Slavery in Brazil is declared extinct from this state. All contrary dispositions are revoked.” Thus, ending slavery in Brazil. The next section of this chapter is called “War and the end of the Monarchy.” In 1864, Brazil invaded Uruguay in order to overthrow a political party (the Blancos) because they put a tax on cattle exports, and while they succeeded in doing so, they accidentally caused a chain reaction in which Paraguay then invaded Brazil but was met with force from a triple alliance of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. The war that resulted was one of the bloodiest waged in Brazilian history. It only took until about the end of 1865 in order for the triple alliance to push the Paraguayans out of Brazil. The war gave rise to further liberal republican ideals. And in 1889 Dom Pedro resigned saying that ‘Brazil has to know how to govern itself; it doesn’t need a tutor.” The next section of the chapter is called “An oligarchal republic.” At his point in history, Brazil accidentally became a republic. The constitution that was ratified in 1891 was inspired by the one of the United States and positivists. The states were given very wide ranges of powers. Os Estados Unidos do Brasil (The United States of Brazil) created their new national flag as well. Placed in front of a green and yellow backround, the words Orden e Progresso paired with a blue globe. A liberal layer, Prudente de Morais, was chosen as president in 1894. Unfortunately, presidents often relied on mutual back scratching from dominant political groups in return for support and shortly after the election of 1930, the corrupt system of government that had been surviving was overthrown by a military coup lead by Getlúlio Vargas. Within the next month, Vargas took office as the head of a provisional government. “The First Republic had ended, just as it had begun, with a military coup.” (p. 78) Chapter 7: The seventh chapter of the book starts the second part of the book, Part II: The Making of Democratic Brazil. “From Disorder to Progress under Cardoso” is the name of the seventh chapter of the book. Brazil seemed to be progressing, but slowly. The New Republics first president died before he could take office, the second president was impeached, and their vice presidents administrated for the first seven out of ten years. Inflation rose, and the economy suffered. In March 1990 inflation was 84%. The next section of this book is “A constitution too big for the GDP.” President José Sarney oversaw a new constitution that entailed full democracy. The new constitution was a more progressive, populist document. It guarantees individual freedoms and rights and even abolished Brazil’s literacy qualification for voting. It extended the welfare state and recognized the rights of Indians. Although it included many positive things, it actually revealed many weaknesses in Sarney’s government. It’s biggest flaw was it put in place an already failing economic model of national developmentalism and corporatist privilege. It wouldn’t be until after many battles about amendments (77 in 2011 to be exact) that any form of lucidity would be brought to the economy. The next section in this chapter is “Collor: the Republic of Alagoas.” Alagoas was a troubled area of Brazil. On page 121, it points out that “In 1986, 42 percent of Alagoans were unemployed, 65 per cent were illiterate and the infant mortality rate was roughly double the national average,” Its state governor in 1986 was Collor de Mello, who ran for president in 1989 and won. He ran a campaign against corruption and portrayed himself as a national savior and champion of a ‘new Brazil.’ Collor’s government opened up foreign trade and increased privatization to decrease fiscal deficit. Soon enough though it was revealed that Collor was just as corrupt as the people he campaigned against. His campaign treasurer used money raised for the presidential campaign to pay Collor’s personal expenses. In 1992, Collor resigned after being impeached and holding only thirty-three months in office. His Vice President, Itamar Franco stepped in as president. The next section in this chapter is called “The Real Plan conquers inflation.” It begins by recalling a brief history of Brazilian inflation and attempts at reform. Fernando Enrique Cordoso, Franco’s finance minister, was the most dominant symbol of Francos term. Cordoso along with a team of economists, created a new currency- the real. They also administered a cut to fiscal deficit of about 8 per cent GDP. Finally, they created a virtual currency designed to create “a gradual de-indexing to the economy without contaminating the real in the process.” (p.128) The ‘Real Plan’ as it was called, was very successful in weakening inflation, which allowed him to easily win two presidential elections. The Cordoso era was a time of low inflation and economic stability, but Brazil paid the price in fiscal irresponsibility and economic growth because of the extreme confidence in the real. Chapter 8: Chapter eight is called “Lulismo and the Brazilian Dream.” After losing three consecutive elections, on October 27th 2002, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva finally was elected as president of Brazil. He ran for the Partido dos Trabalhadores(PT) or the Workers Party and his campaign slogan was, “I changed, Brazil changed.” He described himself as a man who could tie together the worlds of the haves, and the have-nots. He called for six main reforms: pensions, tax, labor, the political system, land and the financial system. One of Lula’s most successful programs was called Bolsa Familia, and it was a kind of social-assistance program. It paid mothers to keep their children enrolled in school and also took them for health checks. Luckily for Lula, the status of the economy was brightening. Despite a few shakes to Lula’s administration involving corruption of money with party members and raising off-the-books cash for its campaign expenses, Lula was still popular because he had no knowledge of the activities that took place. It was because of the success of Bolsa Familia and the drop in poverty that Lula was easily elected for a second term in 2006. The next section in this chapter is called “The drift to state capitalism.” Lula’s Brazil was becoming successful. Employment and wages increased which caused a surge in consumption. Another program that Lula enacted was a public works program called the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC). Its projects were that of street lighting, drainage, and other mechanisms to urbanize favelas in Rio de Janiero. Also under Lula’s administration, the third largest private commercial bank in Brazil, agreed to a takeover by another bank, Itaú, and became the largest Brazilian bank. The next section of the chapter is called “The triumph of Lulismo.” Lula chose Dilma Rousseff to be his candidate for the election in 2010. Dilma had never held elected office and no woman had ever been elected president of Brazil and Lula knew these things, so he started to associate her with his own successes. When Lula left office, his approval rate was up around 75% so it was no surprise that Dilma would win the election in 2011. Dilma described herself as a ‘Brazilian democratic socialist’ and was a strong powerful woman that had feminist principles. She had a hesitant start and took her time in office cautiously. On page 163, the author points out that Dilma has opened up many issues but has not closed the deal on any of them. Mentioned earlier in the chapter reviews, was the fact that Dilma was recently impeached. She was found guilty of moving funds between government budgets. All over cities in Brazil there were protests calling for her resignation. And after a 61 to 20m vote in favor of her being impeached, she resigned from office on October 31st 2016. Her Vice President, Michel Temer, will serve out the rest of Dilma’s term in office as President. Chapter 9: Chapter nine is called “The Long Road to a Middle-class Society.” It opens by introducing Nancy Scheper-Hughes, an American girl that was sent to Brazil by the Peace Corps to help in the small town of Alto do Cruzeiro as a community health worker in the 1960's. She called that town a ‘Brazilian heart of darkness’ (p. 164) She reported that in 1965 over 300 babies that were born didn’t live. That was almost one in two babies born, survived. This was mainly caused by draught and poverty, which caused the Cordoso government to pay more attention to closing wage gaps. The next section of this chapter is specifically called “Closing the gaps.” Brazil did not have an official poverty line until 2013. Dilma defined absolute poverty as a monthly income of less that 70 reais per person. She created a program called Brasil sem Miséria (Brazil without Destitution) in which she aimed to increase the cash payments to those deeper in poverty to ensure that they get at least 70 reais per family member and also find those that had slipped through the ‘social safety net’ and they were to be added to another welfare program called Cadastro Único. The next section of the chapter is called “New middle class- or new poor?” A decrease in poverty lead to the creation of ‘social class C’ who are those whose total household income reaches between 1,200 and 5,174 reais. They made up about 55% of the population in Brazil in 2011 and are most frequently represented by the status symbols a house and a car (casa e carro). Although a lot of the people who belonged to ‘Class C’ lived in less privileged areas of Brazil, public services were refining and almost every household in Brazil had sewage, electricity, and piped water. The next section of the chapter is called “The learning curve.” Improving public education was perhaps “the single most important issue facing Brazil” (p.175) An amendment to the constitution set a national fund, Fundef, for basic education that set a national minimum on spending per student and for teachers salaries. Brazilian schools had very bad test scores and it was because of their unique school schedule. Students come to school in three shifts- one shift in the morning then one in the afternoon and one in the evening. Many older pupils had a tendency to drop out of school because those over fifteen were forced to go at night. Not only did the students have a problem showing up to school but the teachers were often absent as well because in many states, teachers were allowed to miss forty days of school before their pay was docked. Around 1999, a new form of secondary school was formed in order to make sure students learned what they had missed out on in school in earlier grades. These schools were often more successful because they involved a full school day. Also, it points out that the best universities in Latin America are Brazilian universities. The next section of this chapter is called “Affirming a racial divide.” Even in a country where about half of the population defined themselves as black or brown, blacks were still relatively disadvantaged in regards to education and access to health care, but there is a racial revolution in Brazil. On page 182, it points out that within the past 5 years (as of the year 2006) more black students have been placed into universities than in the past 500 years. Also, in 2012, Globo TV had two soaps with black-leading actors. It is said that in Brazil, race has the power to affect life choices, but it cannot determine them. The next section of this chapter is called “The morro and the asfalto.” It discusses the main distinctive difference in the social divide in Brazil. The morro refers to the hills of the favelas home to those in the low and low-middle class. The asfalto refers to the asphalted streets of the higher-class Brazilian districts. In 2010, it was reported that about 22% of Rio’s population lived in 763 single favelas. The crime rate is high in the favelas, which prompted Cordoso to create a plan in which the law would be strengthened. This resulted in the created of two separate police forces for each state: the military police and the civil police. Over the past two decades, Brazil has changed immensely towards the middle-class society that Dilma desired, but it still has a ways to go. Chapter 10: The tenth chapter of the book is called, “Oil, Farming and the Amazon.” It opens by introducing Eike Batista, an extremely powerful person in Brazil, and his plans for the Açu Superport. The port was planned to be the center of an industrial complex, containing a power plant, two steelworks, Brazil’s largest shipyard, and many other factories. With Açu as Eike’s core, he made a personal fortune of $30.2 billion and in 2012 he had became the world’s seventh richest person. Unfortunately for Eike, his businesses collapsed and his fortune didn’t last long. In 2013, Forbes reported that he was no longer a billionaire. Some spectators called Eike’s rise and fall representative of the country. The next section of the chapter is called “Petrobas and the pre-sal.” Petrobas was an oil company founded by Vargas in 1954 and had little luck drilling on land but in the 1960’s it started to drill offshore. The oil that they found was lying underneath a thick bed of salt, up to 7 kilometers below the South Atlantic Ocean. On page 195, it was estimated that at least 50 billion barrels were recoverable from the new drilling site. The new company that owned the site was called Pré-Sal Petróleo SA (PPSA). This company was very successful; in fact, the first sixteen wells that they drilled were all successful. It didn’t take long to see that Petrobas had overreached a bit though. Oil shipments were being delayed and new equipment was taking much longer to create then expected. To try and control inflation, Dilma’s government tried to hold down the price of petrol but despite the stable oil prices the company faced its first quarterly loss in 2012. The next section of the chapter is called “The gauchos and Embrapa lead an agricultural revolution.” In 1973, Brazil founded an agricultural research institute and began the ‘green revolution.’ Gaúchos were skilled farmers that traveled northwest around 1979 in search for land to farm. They used advanced farming techniques and created new planting machines in order to create a more plentiful crop. Another important byproduct of one of Brazil’s outputs is Brazilian sugar-based ethanol. It is a sustainable, green energy source that only emits two-fifths of the carbon that regular petrol does. The next section of the book is called “The trees and the people.” This section talked about the industrialization of the rainforest and the next section talked about efforts to save it. The three main proponents of the deforestation were cattle ranchers, loggers, and colonists. Each fled to the forest in search of profit- more land, more wood. But once it was realized that the forest was dangerously close to disaster, Lula went to the UN summit on climate change and promised a cut in the rate of deforestation at least 80% its level in 1996-2005 by the year 2020. Brazil also has immense untapped energy potential in the Amazon River; hydro plants provide the country with about 80% of its electricity already and with the creation of new dams that number can only grow. The country’s energy grid is remarkably green with the exception of the deep-sea drilling. Chapter 11: Chapter eleven is called “Brazil’s Guided Capitalism” and opens by telling the story of the Embraer Company. Its aircraft factory was located next to a little airport in São Jose dos Campos. Embraer had the ability to adapt to changing market conditions, which lead to its inevitable success. This proved that Brazilian manufacturers have the capability to compete globally as long as they go about it the correct way. The next section in the chapter was called “Debating de-industrialization.” After learning that there is hope for Brazilian business thanks to Embraer, the government began to give out selective subsidies and protection and the banks began to sponsor national champions in agribusiness and food, construction, pulp and paper, and telecoms. These were called BNDE’s and they appeared to be working for the economy and credit market. Brazil still struggled with definitive labor laws and those problems included those of wages and the availability of full time employment. The cost of capitol was another burden on businesses. On page 227, it says that over the past two decades Brazil has had some of the highest interest rates in the world. There was also a huge reluctance to save, some believed it was because of Brazilians desire to live in the moment instead of think about the future. Because of this, banks were required to put around 45-60% of their deposits into the Central Bank, which made banking extremely safe but expensive. Brazil’s businesses were ranked 130th out of 185 countries for the ease of conducting business by the World Bank. Brazil’s Finance minister, Mantega, had to step in in 2013 when measures to lessen the Brazilian cost started to drain money from emerging financial markets. To fix this problem, he and the president of the Central Bank created a currency swap arrangement that “soothed the currency’s fall.” (p. 231) By 2015, Brazil became the world’s third-biggest market for consumer products such as pet food and skin care products, the fourth largest cement consumer, and it was predicted to become the fifth biggest grocery market. The status of the economy was healing and Latin America was looking up. Brazil accidentally developed its own unique form of capitalism that held together family owned companies and bank holdings by a thriving stock market. The last section in this chapter is called “From industrial policy to innovation policy.” And it talks a little bit about the growth of Brazilian businesses. “According to one study, 27 million Brazilians either already owned a business or were starting one” (p.235) There was also more people going to specialized education and training institutions that fortified manufacturing and business. In 2010 the countries universities produced about ten times the amount on PhD’s that they had in 1990. Brazilians were becoming more innovative and successful. Chapter 12: The twelfth chapter of the book marks the third and final section, Part III: Prospects. Chapter twelve is called “Global Ambitions and Frustrations.” The first event described was a meeting between Lula, Iran’s president and Turkey’s prime minister in which they created the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA). The IAEA was a deal between Iran and Turkey exchanging uranium for fuel rods so that Turkey could power its research reactor. Lula was present for the reveal of the treaty and hand in hand with the other world leaders he said it was a ‘victory for diplomacy’. (P.239) The next section of the chapter is called “In search of a foreign policy.” It is believed by many Brazilian policy makers that Brazil was meant to be a world power because of its sheer size, but arguments over international identity delayed the progress of foreign policy. Some Brazilians see themselves immersed in western ideas relating to international law and regulation and western religions, yet Brazil was shaped by slavery and poverty. One thing is for sure; Brazil wants to increase its presence in worldwide diplomatic exchanges. The next section of this chapter is called “Mercosul is our destiny.” Mercosul is the Common Market of the South that was created when Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay signed the Treaty of Asunción in 1991. Mercosul was built off the notion that breaking down barriers between countries could help them be more active and effective in the global economy. It was successful at first, but soon ran into many problems involving instability and it didn’t help that Brazil was hungry for more respect within the region. Cordoso began to hold South American summits in which the goal was to merge the surrounding five countries with the Mercosul countries and to create cross-border infrastructure. Cordoso’s meetings were held annually and in 2008 they were officially called ‘the South American Union’ or UNASUL. It was at Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez that requested UNASUL to set up a defense council to protect themselves against the United States. Cordoso didn’t believe that the US was out for Latin America but did believe in UNASUL. Brazil kept pushing to play a bigger part in the world. Brazil made its main alliances with Argentina and Venezuela and was able to gain more markets along with other industries. Eventually in 2002, Lula and Bush met in the United States at the White House and agreed to hold regular meetings to discuss the status of their countries. They also made a deal that Brazil would support the US only in military missions approved by the UN and that Brazil would follow a more ambiguous foreign policy. Having a solid relationship was very important to Lula, and Bush took a liking to Lula and his ideals. Chapter 13: Chapter thirteen is called “An Unreformed Leviathan.” It starts off describing a couple protests that eventually lead to reform in Brazil. One protest was over a rise in bus fares that brought attention to police brutality in Brazil, another protest was over the immense amount of spending on football stadiums for the World Cup instead of spending on schools and hospitals. Dilma’s approval ratings plummeted, she was so shaken that she ran to Lula and others for help. She was advised to meet with governors and big city mayors and through those meetings she came up with five ‘pacts’ that included assurances of more spending on public transport, education, doctors, and more commitment to fiscal responsibly. The next section in the chapter is called “The high price of patronage politics.” It highlighted the problems within Brazil’s political system and talked about its political parties. One in particular was the PMDB, a unique party that focuses on relations of patronage. Some philosophers say that it is the most predominant party in Brazil and practiced patromonialism and patronage politics. The next two sections of this chapter deal with Brazil’s irresponsible spending of money. Brazil was spending a rather large amount of money in comparison to the countries level of economic development. Brazil also had a really messed up pension system. Workers were able to retire at the early age of 54 with about a 70 percent pension, but this pension would rise with the minimum wage. The Brazilian government spent more on the elderly then they did on the youth and Brazil was aging quickly. The average mother had six children in the 1960’s, but today in Brazil they may have one or two. This was causing the government to spend more money in pensions than in schools and hospitals. The next two sections were a cause and effect. The first section is called “Cupidity and corruption” and the second section is called “Society fights back.” Cupidity and corruption reveals all sorts of misuse of money by the government and Brazilian politicians and the entitlement that they felt because of it. Society fights back shows that Brazils public was not willing to let this corruption go unnoticed. Civil society watchdogs and the media kept a close eye on where public money was going and if anything seemed wrong, the media would create hysteria. Another important point mentioned in this section was that the more money you had, the less likely you were to get in any sort of legal trouble. The wealthier people could basically stall the courts and hold off their trial until it was forgotten about or the lawyers could figure out a way to get them out it. On page 279, the case of Antonio Pimenta Neves was brought to light. In 2000 he murdered his mistress after she tried to end their relationship and avoided going to prison for ten years because he had the money to do so. Chapter 14: Chapter fourteen is the final chapter of the book, and it is called “Brazil’s Century?” The last chapter ends is named a question because it talks about brazils future. It begins with Brazil’s loss to Uraguay in the 1950’s World Cup. The sorrow that the country felt was compared to the sorrow that Japan felt after Hiroshima- it was a national devastation. Brazil’s confidence was not restored until it was awarded the 2014 World Cup and 2016 summer Olympics. Over the years, Brazil has accumulated much economic strength in farming, gas and ethanol, oil, and a growing knowledge of science and research. Economic growth is key for the success of Brazil in the twenty first century. Brazil also needs to be able to execute projects effectively and spend more money on education, infrastructure, policing, and health care. The second section of this chapter is called “The positivists versus the citizens.” Brazil was ‘the state that created the nation, rather than the nation creating the government.’ (p.286) The Brazilian people are demanding a remodel of their country. They want a country of equality instead of privilege and with that they have hope. They have hope that Brazil will build off its past keeping in mind it’s potential and broaden the scope of their success for the future. I am so thankful this book was assigned to us to read before going on the trip to Brazil. I feel like I have learned so much already about the twists and turns of Brazil’s history and the direction in which the country is headed. As we get ready to start our prep course for the trip, I will keep in mind certain facts and ideas that I distinctly remember from the book. When we are in Manaus, I will be able to recall it was turned into a trade-free zone and created a city of 2 million people before deforestation regulations were created and when we are in Copacabana and Rio I will be able to see and distinguish between the rich and poor because of the favelas, morros and asfaltos. Although it was not the most exciting book at times, reading it and taking notes and summarizing the chapters made the history stick in my brain and I am more excited than ever to go to this beautiful and intriguing country. Works Cited: Reid, Michael. Brazil: The Troubled Rise of a Global Power. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print. News, BBC. "Brazil Impeachment: Key Questions." BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2016. |