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Government in Contemporary Brazil*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2014

Leslie Lipson
Leslie Lipson*
Affiliation:
University of California
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Extract

The problems of present-day Brazil are the travail of a people in the midst of a three-dimensional renovation. Their economy, politics, and social structure are changing simultaneously, but at different speeds. Much the fastest transformation is the economic. Political alterations are slower. Social reconstruction is the slowest. The purpose of this paper is to analyse some of the contradictions that exist within the state when the economy propels it forward while the social order holds it back. What happens in politics when reform of government must be adjusted to a fast rate of economic change and a slow rate of social change? And can such reform be accomplished when foreign examples are invoked to displace ingrained traditions?

The character of Brazilian government is curiously akin to that of the new buildings which abound in the Copacabana suburb of Rio and elsewhere. The architect, a master of the modern idiom, has designed an imposing elevation to the street and an entrance of striking beauty. But, as one enters, much will be found in the finish of the interior, and in the services and maintenance, that conflicts with the external view. For periods of varying length, water will cease to flow from the faucets; electricity will be cut off; street drains may be inadequate to carry off rain and sewage; and, sooner or later, the bichos will find their way in. A building may look a thing of beauty, but without the necessary utilities it will not be a joy forever to live in.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science/Revue canadienne de economiques et science politique , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , May 1956 , pp. 183 - 198
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 1956

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Footnotes

*

During 1953 I worked in Brazil in the service of the United Nations. All statements and opinions in this article, however, are expressed on my sole responsibility.

References

1 Meaning insects or vermin, with the added association of monsters and wonders.

2 The same appears to be true of the army's role between November, 1955, and January, 1956, in guaranteeing that President-elect Kubitschek would be able to take office.

3 In his Institutuicões Políticas Brasileiras (Rio de Janeiro: José Olympio, 1949), II, 15 ff.Google Scholar

4 As enumerated at the census of 1950, the states of Amazonas, Mato Grosso, and Par´, covering 48 per cent of Brazil's area, contain only 4 per cent of the population.

5 Wheare's definition of the “federal principle” in Federal Government (New York, 1946), 13–14 and also 11, 15 Google Scholar, as a division of the powers of government “between co-ordinate, independent authorities” is too unrealistic. In the United States, Canada, Switzerland, and Australia, the federal government and the states, cantons, or provinces, are not independent of one another. The largest units, like New York, Ontario, New South Wales, and Zurich, are interdependent with their national governments; while the smaller, poorer units are dependent. Nor can the parts be called co-ordinate with the whole. They are subordinate.

6 “A Discriminacāo de Rendas na Constituinte de 1946,” Revista Brasileira dos Municípios, III, 732 ff.Google Scholar Professor Baleeiro, an economist, was a member of the Constitutional Convention and served on its Subcommission on the Distribution of Revenues. He is currently a deputy in the National Congress.

7 Constitution of 1946, article 58. Thus Sāo Paulo, with 17.6 per cent of the population, has 13.2 per cent of the representation.

8 The Município is the basic unit of local government. It may comprise a city with little or no rural fringe, or a rural area with one or more urban centres, or a large tract of land with a thin and scattered population.

9 In an address on Relacōes Financeiras da Uniāo com as Outras Orbitas de Govêrno, 5, delivered at the Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Rio de Janeiro, in 12, 1952, and mimeographed.Google Scholar

10 E.g., “A União e o Nordeste,” Correio da Manhã, 04 9, 1953.Google Scholar

11 The Correio da Manhã, May 8, 1953, had an article on the subject: “Nordeste, Colonia do Sul.”

12 Nearly all of Paraná lies outside the tropics. The coffee trees are therefore moving into a cooler climatic zone than suits them. In the winter months of mid-1953 a large number of the trees in Paraná were killed or damaged by frost.

13 Published in Anuário Estatístico do Brasil (Rio de Janeiro, 1951).Google Scholar

14 On this problem see Wagley, Charles, ed., Race and Class in Rural Brazil (UNESCO, 1952).Google Scholar

15 The Constitution notwithstanding, it is a fact that in some areas illiterates succeed in registering as voters. The only test they undergo is to show that they can sign their name; and an illiterate can be taught, in advance, to make a sufficiently recognizable scrawl. This technique is often exploited by local bosses in their own interests. The Correio da Manhã, May 19, 1953, suggested that 2 million illiterates may have registered in this way.

16 The rise in the registration of voters between 1950 and 1954 presumably reflects, in part, a further increase in literacy.

17 One of the P.T.B.'s leading deputies told me that his party was the only one with a philosophy and a programme.

18 Paraná and Santa Catarina would be exceptions to this generalization.

19 Reported in Correio da Manhã, April 18, 1953.

20 The Brazil Herald (March 24, 1953) reported: “It is calculated that the four candidates and their financial supporters spent about 200 million cruzeiros in the campaign.”

21 Much of Vargas' electoral strength came from Sao Paulo, the state of Rio de Janeiro, and the Federal District. His following increased progressively from north to south, except in his home-state of Rio Grande do Sul.

22 The difference between the individual leader and the party can be gauged from the 1950 elections. Vargas received 48.7 per cent of the votes for president. The P.T.B. won only 43 of the 304 seats in the Câmara.