Brazil in the Seventies is a collection of four essays on selected international aspects of Brazil’s recent development. These papers were originally presented in March 1976 to a Washington, D.C. seminar series. The longest essay, by Thomas E. Skidmore on “Brazil’s Changing Role in the International System,” concludes that Brazil’s international relations will be ambidextrous—“asserting leadership of the LDCs while also aspiring to possible OECD membership” (p. 25), that U.S.-Brazilian relations will remain close although Brazil is becoming more independent on the international scene, and that on the domestic political scene “the political initiative will continue to lie with the government over the next five years” (p. 22). Werner Baer reviews Brazil’s economic trends over the 1964-1975 period with particular emphasis on some significant departures from economic policies caused by the 1975 sharp drop in Brazil’s growth rate. Although Professor Baer does not attempt to forecast the future, the tone of his analysis is optimistic as to continued growth but at lower rates than in the 1964-1975 period.
The growing international economic interdependence of Brazil is discussed by William R. Cline. He concludes that Brazil “shows long-run strength in the foreign sector” despite “temporary problems” such as “excessive debt.” He also concludes that Brazil “occupies a position of natural economic leadership among the developing countries.” The most interesting essay to this reviewer is the article by Robert A. Packenham which examines the issue of national dependency and reaches a qualified conclusion that since 1964 the trend in Brazil has been toward less dependency.
As the editor, Riordan Roett, observes in his introduction, “from these four essays there emerges a profile of Brazil that emphasizes pragmatic moderation in international economic political affairs” (p. 3). The remainder of his conclusion that the “domestic authoritarian political system has a disregard for economic redistribution and social justice” is asserted but not documented in the essays.
As a whole, the essays present an excellent snapshot of the Brazil situation as of the mid-1970s. There is some duplication particularly of the economic data. This small book will be useful for newcomers to the Brazilian scene. But it does not present much new material or analysis except for the essay on dependency.
