Overview

The success of political efforts to create a more open economy in Brazilover the past decade has depended crucially on support from the industrial sector, which long enjoyed the benefits of protection by the state from economic competition. Why businesses previously so sheltered would back neoliberal reform, and why opposition arose at times from sectors least threatened by free trade, are the puzzles this book seeks to answer.

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9780271019383

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Reviews

In a highly organized book, Kingstone examines Brazilian industry s support for the neoliberal reforms of the 1990s, arguing that this turnaround was shaped less by competitiveness than by public policy and political credibility. Based on hundreds of interviews with business executives, the book systematically analyzes different sectors from pulp and paper to auto parts to machine tools and examines the shifting opinions within industry lobbying associations. . . . An important contribution to the study of Brazil s struggle for reform. Kenneth Maxwell, Foreign Affairs

In a highly organized book, Kingstone examines Brazilian industry's support for the neoliberal reforms of the 1990s, arguing that this turnaround was shaped less by competitiveness than by public policy and political credibility. Based on hundreds of interviews with business executives, the book systematically analyzes different sectors--from pulp and paper to auto parts to machine tools--and examines the shifting opinions within industry lobbying associations. . . . An important contribution to the study of Brazil's struggle for reform. --Kenneth Maxwell, Foreign Affairs

An enduring puzzle for Latin Americanists is how freemarket, neoliberal economic reform was possible. . . . In this excellent new book, Peter Kingstone addresses the puzzle directly and effectively. He frames it as follows: 'After fifty years of protection and nurturing by the state, observers of Brazilian political economy would have expected Brazilian industrialists to actively oppose the reform process' (p. 1). In the end, however, Kingstone documents that business was much more flexible when facing reform, and under certain circumstances it was quite willing to endorse and support economic reform. -Jeffrey Cason, American Political Science Review (APSR) Overall, though, this work is a worthy and thoughtful addition to the literature on the impact of Brazilian business on the nation's destiny, as well as on the interaction between Latin American business and neoliberal reform. -Richard Downes, Luso-Brazilian Review This book provides a valuable record of the 'crisis of the state' showing how fiscal, constitutional and inflationary pressures contributed to the breakdown of past business support for the state, opened space for new growth and organizational strategies. -Mahrukh Doctor, Latin American Studies In a highly organized book, Kingstone examines Brazilian industry's support for the neoliberal reforms of the 1990s, arguing that this turnaround was shaped less by competitiveness than by public policy and political credibility. Based on hundreds of interviews with business executives, the book systematically analyzes different sectors-from pulp and paper to auto parts to machine tools-and examines the shifting opinions within industry lobbying associations. . . . An important contribution to the study of Brazil's struggle for reform. -Kenneth Maxwell, Foreign Affairs This is a most important book which should be read by all those who have an interest in business politics, in the politics of neoliberal reform, and in the political economy of contemporary Brazil. -Frances Hagopian, University of Notre Dame

An enduring puzzle for Latin Americanists is how freemarket, neoliberal economic reform was possible. . . . In this excellent new book, Peter Kingstone addresses the puzzle directly and effectively. He frames it as follows: After fifty years of protection and nurturing by the state, observers of Brazilian political economy would have expected Brazilian industrialists to actively oppose the reform process (p. 1). In the end, however, Kingstone documents that business was much more flexible when facing reform, and under certain circumstances it was quite willing to endorse and support economic reform. Jeffrey Cason, American Political Science Review (APSR)

Author Information

Peter R. Kingstone is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Connecticut. He is co-editor, with Timothy Power, of Democratic Brazil: Actors, Institutions, and Processes (1999).

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