Bertha K. Becker

Geopolitics of the Amazon

ABSTRACT The Amazon region has seen major structural changes in which new actors (organized civil society, provincial governments and international organizations) have played a decisive role. Perceptions of change differ, reflecting different global, national and regional interests, and result in conflicts that make it difficult to implement proper public policies. Today, the Amazon is a region in itself, requiring a policy for the consolidation of its development. A strengthening of institutions, new advances in Science, Technology and Innovation and regionalization are suggested strategies.

Considerations on regional development and the spatial location of economic activities in the developing countries

Abstract In 1956, in view of the growing international disparities in rates of development, Myrdal asserted that it was risky to maintain that there had been economic progress in the last few decades for mankind as a whole. Today, after three decades of efforts to examine in greater depth the theory and practice of regional development, efforts of which the papers of the I.G.U. Commission on Regional Aspects of Development represent part, w can permit ourselves to re-examine the question which he posed. The aim of the present paper, then, is to attempt to set out the contribution of the contemporary theory of regional growth to the analysis and solution of the problems facing the developing countries. The first section reviews the important achievements of this contemporary theory, which provided the context out of which the papers of the Committee have developed. The second section analyses the contribution made by the I.G.U. Commission, while that third deals with limitations of the theory in the light of the actual situation in the developing countries.

Brazil: A New Regional Power in the World Economy

List of figures List of tables Preface 1. The ambivalence of an emerging power 2. The incorporation of Brazil into the world-economy: from colony to national industrialisation 3. The world-economy and Brazils regions 4. The rise of Brazil as a regional power in the world-economy 5. The legacy of conservative modernisation and territorial restructuring 6. Crisis and dilemmas of the regional power 7. Conclusion Bibliography Index.

Reflections on hydroelectric dams in the Amazon: water, energy and development

The essay discusses the deployment of hydroelectric dams in the Amazon having as a starting point the relations between water and hydropower consumption at different scales of analyses. So, if all parts of the world are affected by global processes, they are not in the same way. The global scale is dominated by the apocalyptic discourse of increasing water scarcity and global warming, requiring the reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases through the use of renewable energy and new technologies. On a Brazilian national scale, the problems are, rather, how to manage the abundance of water with social and territorial justice, and how to stop the loss of 20% of the electricity produced. Finally, it is at the regional scale - in the Amazon - that major problems arise: i) the biggest paradox between the abundance of water and social inaccessibility to this resource; ii) most of the dams planned for the country will be built there, with the risk of negative impacts already known; iii) the obligation of building sluices at all the proposed dams, suggested by the industrial sector in name of the rivers navigation, will serve, in fact, to export commodities produced in the Brazilian central region. An ethical question is, therefore, posed to society and to Brazilian government: are really needed so many hydroelectric dams in the Amazon?