Fernando Henrique Cardoso

Democracy as a Starting Point

Democracy by itself does not put an end to injustice or inequality, but it establishes the most favorable conditions for making progress in the struggle to achieve a just society.

Dependency and Development in Latin America.

The theory of imperialist capitalism, as is well known, has so far attained its most significant treatment in Lenin’s works. This is not only because Lenin attempts to explain transformations of the capitalist economies that occurrred during the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth, but is mainly because of the political and historical implications contained in his interpretations. In fact, the descriptive arguments of Lenin’s theory of imperialism were borrowed from Hobson’s analysis. Other writers had already presented evidence of the international expansion of the capitalist economies and nations. Nevertheless, Lenin, inspired by Marx’s views, was able to bring together evidence to the effect that economic expansion is meaningless if we do not take into consideration the political and historical aspects with which economic factors are intimately related. From Lenin’s perspective, imperialism is a new form of the capitalist mode of production. This new form cannot be considered a different mode of economic organization, insofar as capital accumulation based on private ownership of the means of production and exploitation of the labor force remain the basic features of the system. But its significance is that of a new stage of capitalism.

Democracy in Latin America

TWENTY years ago, the toppling of Brazil’s elected government signaled the beginning of a series of military coups on the continent. One after another, Arturo Illia’s government in Argentina, Femando Beladnde Terry’s in Peru, and the Uruguayan and the Bolivian governments were overthrown, culminating in the 1973 Salvador Allende tragedy--the supreme humiliation for the Chilean regime that was once the quintessence of Latin American democracy. The entire southern cone turned into a gigantic Paraguay (where General Alfredo Stroessner was already celebrating over 30 years of military dictatorship). Since then, descriptions of military regimes and predictions about their chances of enduring have abounded in the literature of political sociology. Theoretically inclined observers of Latin America and natives alike became engrossed in two debates: the relationship between economic development and military dictatorships, and the specific political nature of the newly established regimes. The surprise of the first coups brought perplexity. Military caudillos are back again was the first reaction of analysts seeking to classify these dictatorships. Stroessner was said to have finally taken revenge for Paraguay’s defeat in last century’s war against the Triple Alliance (Argentina,

O Inimigo De Papel: (The Paper Enemy)

(There are two polemics: that which clarifies, refines, and advances understanding and that such as the Fernández-Ocampo article which is dogmatic and reaffirms positions which political practice has made obsolete. The authors unjustly lump all the dependentistas together and do not refer to the vast Latin American literature on the subect. Weffort (1970) made an opposite (and equally erroneous) critique to that of Fernández-Ocampo, accusing the dependent istas of ignoring the internal enemies and concentrating only on imperialism. The mistake in both cases artificially separates imperialism from its internal allies in the dominated country. The authors also ignore the context in which Frank set his position on the capitalist character of Latin America since the conquest, and they do not make any contribution by characterizing Latin America as semi-feudal or with strong feudal remnants. The main contribution of depen dency theory has been to get beyond the generality of imperialism and describe specific mech anisms and ties between the local and international structures. Dependentistas do not substitute for or invalidate the theory of imperialism. Nor do they claim that dependency produces only underdevelopment, for indeed there can be dependent development. Dependency must be ana lyzed historically to see how colonial slave dependency is different from feudal dependency. Some countries were never underdeveloped or dependent since both processes began only with the development of a world market and the exploitation of some states by others. Most Latin American agrarian economies are not capitalist or feudal but rather are colonial-latifundist. Thus the authors create paper enemies in the feudal lords and their imperialist allies. Further, they invent a growing gap between city and country while in fact industrialization, urbanization, and dependent capitalism follow developmental lines with great unevenness and regional differen tiation. The principal enemy is not imperialism seen as something separate from local domina tion. The struggle against imperialism implies identifying its internal face which is the local monopoly industrial-financial sector and the local bourgeoisie to which it is allied in both city and countryside) .

Problems of Social Change, Again?

This concise paper presents a critical glance over the theories of social change and over the new challenges facing those who wish to understand change in the contemporary world.

Scholarship and Statesmanship

This text was adapted from the first annual Seymour Martin Lipset Lecture on Democracy in the World, which President Cardoso delivered on 6 December 2004. Seymour Martin Lipsets contributions to political science and sociology are not theoretical achievements alone, but reflect his keenly practical moral awareness, his understanding of leadership, and his great love of democracy as the finest form of government ever devised.

Social Policies in Latin America in the Eighties: New Options?

This paper has three parts. In the first, I summarize the main trends in the formulating and implementing of social policies in Latin America, in the postwar period. In the second, I discuss the contemporary situation and attempt to characterize the changes in the state apparatus and in the ideological positions that enabled the prevailing lines of social policy to be defined. In the third, I speculate on contingent tendencies toward change, and on the future significance of the social question, both for politics and the state. I do not intend to make a systematic analysis of the subject: there are people who are better qualified to do SO. Nor shall I place much emphasis on the theoretical-conceptual aspects of the problem. What I shall attempt to do, above all, is explore the unexpected, significant shifts in emphasis and in content, within the area of social policies. In short, the purpose of this paper is, primarily, to discuss the problems and the approaches, relative to the question of social policies in Latin America.

Perfil epidemiológico de infectados pelo vírus HIV com dermatoses em Natal/RN

BACKGROUND: There is no description of dermatoses among HIV infected individuals in Rio Grande do Norte(RN) / Brazil, althoug this state had an accumulated total of 899 adult Aids cases registered from january 1983 to august 2000 and mortality coefficients per 100,000 residents of 3.80 and 2.47, in the years 1995 and 1997, respectively, such that this difference in values coincided with the introduction of antiretroviral (ARV) usage in this state. OBJECTIVE: To describe epidemiologic caracteristics of retrovirus infected subjects with dermatoses, including frequency of dermatoses and to establish relationships between the caracteristics of users and nonusers of ARV drugs. METHODS: Were included 172 patients, according to HIV infection classification of CDC/1992. The use of ARV drugs was determined and the dermatoses were submited to analysis. RESULTS: The sample comprises 83.72% of men, with mean age of 37.17 years, with sexual way of retrovirus contamination (96.5%), predominant heterossexual behaviour (54.7%). The most frequent form skin diseases were classified into viral, fungic and miscellaneous. The mean percentage of diseased skin area was 12.5%. Mean viral load was 109,114.05 cps/ml, and mean CD4+ T lymphocytes was 383.15 cells/mm3. Overal 81.4% of patients were using ARV drugs. CONCLUSIONS: The epidemiologic profile of HIV infected patients residents in state of RN did not differ from that of others brazilian regions. Analytic studies, minimizing confounding bias, are necessary to discribe the real frequency of HAART (High Active Antiretroviral Therapy) in seropositive HIV subjects.