Abstract:

The Brazilian economy struggled throughout the 1980s with a severe balance of payments crisis and high inflation, interrupting thirty years of rapid growth and structural change. Simultaneously, Brazil underwent a democratic political transition culminating in the end of a twenty-year military dictatorship and the approval of a new social democratic constitution. In the 1990s, the alignment of the country’s economic policy with Washington Consensus reforms resulted in low growth and another major crisis at the end of this decade. In the 2000s, after a period of greater dynamism induced by exports, domestic consumption, and public investment, a new round of neoliberal reforms was introduced in 2015. This relaunching of Washington Consensus reforms led to economic collapse. Neoliberalism was radicalized in 2018 after the election of a right-wing government, and the economy has entered into a period of recession and low growth.

We discuss the social basis of neoliberalism in Brazil, arguing that its main policies and ideologies form a very unstable social structure of accumulation. Neoliberalism in a society as unequal as Brazil’s enters into conflict with the democratic vote, generating persistent political instability and a pendulum-shaped political evolution.

摘要：

巴西经济在 1980 年代陷入严重的国际收支危机和高通胀，中断了三十年的快速增长和结构变化。与此同时，巴西经历了民主政治过渡，最终结束了二十年的军事独裁统治，并通过了新的社会民主宪法。在 1990 年代，该国经济政策与华盛顿共识改革的一致导致低增长和本十年末的另一场重大危机。在 2000 年代，在出口、国内消费和公共投资引发了一段更大的活力之后，2015 年引入了新一轮的新自由主义改革。华盛顿共识改革的重新启动导致经济崩溃。

我们讨论了巴西新自由主义的社会基础，认为其主要政策和意识形态形成了非常不稳定的社会积累结构。在巴西这样不平等的社会中，新自由主义与民主投票发生冲突，导致持续的政治不稳定和钟摆式的政治演变。