O Nacional-Desenvolvimentismo e o Novo-Desenvolvimentismo no Brasil: expansão interna, externa e o discurso social-democrata

Abstract

In this dissertation I speculate on the existence of a new-developmentalism in Brazil, at the beginning of the XXI century, - from its comparison with the national-developmentalism, current between 1930 and 1980, which is contextualized in the light of the theories of Celso Furtado and Maria da Conceição Tavares, - going through the crisis of the welfare state in the 1970s and the reforms directed to the market in the 1990s. The present study starts from the hypothesis that the election of Lula da Silva in 2003, retaking the function of state planning and making the state the instrument of collective action of the nation instituted what can be termed a New-Developmentalism. This made possible the constitution of a virtuous circle anchored in the expansion into - internal market/social inclusion - and outwards - especially through the external foreign insertion that internationally projects Brazilian capitalism, steadily being based on a diplomacy conducted by the President -, although presenting a continuity of trajectory with the national-developmentalism in terms of a strong Executive, intervener and regulator of the economy. In order to do so, the empirical data will focus on how the new developmentalism differs from the previous model in view of two paradigms: (1) the institutionalization of a new conformation in State/society relations; and (2) the challenge of the frameworks of the traditional elites by designing, formulating and implementing public policies aimed at increasing formal employment, building a robust internal market and reducing structural social inequalities in the social concentration of income. In addition, it will be considered (1) the emergence of social democracy and leftist governments in Latin America that aspire to make social reforms by electoral means, as well as their relationship with pragmatism and the defense of a new development agenda in the post-neoliberal scenario; (2) the questioning of the fact that leftist governments favor democracy and invest more in social policies than the governments on the right of the ideological spectrum, and (3) the PT's possible social-democratic experience, the Lulism as a social phenomenon and its link with the new-developmentalism.