The Political Economy of Lula’s Brazil describes the social, political and economic transformations that led to increased interest in the tropical giant at the start of the 21st century. This volume demonstrates that Brazil’s rise was the result of the adoption of heterodox economic policies, while also highlighting the obstacles to choosing an egalitarian development path in Latin America. Adopting an innovative perspective in terms of methodology and interpretation, contributors from Brazil, Latin America and France follow a non-dogmatic critical approach in order to explain the institutional changes that made a new cycle of development possible in Brazil. The authors also argue that the evolution of Brazil, following the implementation of leftist policies, paradoxically gave birth to several economic, political and environmental contradictions. They contend that these contradictions, including the falling rate of profit linked to the full employment of resources; the redistributive process seen as a menace by the conservative middle classes; and the growing intervention of the state in the different markets, eventually led to the end of the early 21st century development cycle. Providing clues to understanding the contradictory and painful path towards the development of semi-industrialised countries, this book will interest students and academics in the fields of economics, sociology, history and political science. The story it tells may also interest all those searching for independent analysis of the successes and failures of Lula’s Brazil.

Written by a group of international experts, this book focuses on three interdependent themes: (a) origins and consequences of the current debt crisis; (b) the systemic nature of the crisis; (c) national and international policy efforts to avoid a global collapse and bring about lasting reforms in the Euro zone and in the financial system.

This is the first book published in English to present a concise but panoramic overview of the social, economic and political roots of the current Brazilian crisis. By situating former president Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment in the wider context of the historical struggle for social rights, citizenship and democracy in the country, the book provides a conceptual framework that will allow foreign readers to better understand the apparent contradiction of a rising regional power that all of a sudden entered in one of the worst economic, social and political crisis of its history. This book will be of interest to a wide range of social scientists (such as sociologists, economists, historians and political scientists) interested in labor and citizenship issues in developing countries like Brazil, as well as for social agents (from the public and private spheres) with practical involvement with such issues, such as trade unionists, leaders and advisors of business organizations, policy-makers, politicians, NGO activists and technicians.