BRAZIL
A TEACHING MODULE
Patricia Ryan
Political Science Department
Fairmont State College
1998
School of Social Science
Fairmont State College
1201 Locust Avenue
Fairmont , West Virginia 26554-2470
Tel: (304)367-4163
Fax: (304)367-4785
e-mail: ryan@fscvax.wvnet.edu
Political Science 413
Area Studies: the Developing World
Spring Semester 1999
Patricia Ryan
The purpose of this course is to give students a broad overview of the various aspects of political, economic, and social development or underdevelopment in the third world. During the course of the semester, students will explore the typical conditions contributing to underdevelopment and analyze the major challenges facing developing nations. The variables critical to the development process will be identified. Political, economic, cultural, and other explanations for underdevelopment will be discussed and the major theoretical models -- modernization and dependency --- seeking to explain underdevelopment will be examined. Having acquired a better understanding of the breadth of problems and uncertainties facing less developed nations, students will examine some of the distinct policies pursued by selected countries in order to achieve sustainable growth and development. A substantial portion of the course will be devoted to study the experience of Brazil, Egypt, Nigeria, and South Korea, and the newly independent republics in East Europe. Particular emphasis will be given to environmental issues and politics.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
REQUIRED TEXTS: Howard Handelman, The Challenge of Third World Development, Prentice Hall,1996.
Joseph Weatherby et al, The Other World: Issues and Politics of the Developing World,
Longman, 1997.
READINGS : Students are required to read assignments in the texts and be ready to participate in class discussions. In addition students are required to read additional books and laced on reserve in the library.
Students are also required to keep up with the news concerning economic and environmental issues by reading newspapers and periodicals with national and international circulation.
TESTS: There will be three examinations including the final. Tests will consist of essay questions. The final will be comprehensive since the function of this examination will be to test comprehension of the course contents in their totality.
Students are required to take all examinations at the scheduled time. Should a student have an excuse absent on test day, he/she is required to make arrangements to take a make-up upon return to class. It is the responsibility of the student to contact the instructor and make an appointment for the make-up to be administered at a time convenient to the instructor. Failure to comply with this procedure will result in the awarding of an "F" for the missed test. Note that students are allowed only one make-up per semester. Also note that there will be no make-up for a missed final. Test dates will be announced in class.
TERM PAPER: Students are required to write a term paper. Topics to be researched must deal with current economic and environmental issues and policies and must be approved by the instructor. A list of topics will be distributed in class.
FILMS: A number of films on the particular countries under study will be shown during the course of the semester. Most films, however, will not be shown during class time but will be made available for viewing throughout the days films are on campus. Films will help provide a better understanding of the particular culture and character of a particular population and will help illustrate some the problems present in these countries. A visual perception of topics under discussion will help separate the vision one might have from the reality.
CLASS ATTENDANCE: The course will consist of lectures and structured discussions. Because of the breadth and complexity of course contents, class lectures will supplement readings. Further since students are required to participate in discussion sessions, class participation will be evaluated and will count toward the final grade.
In view of the fact that this class will meet for 150 minutes once a week, students must attend the class for the scheduled duration. A 10 minute break will be given at mid-point.
GRADES: Final grade for the course will be determined on the basis of performance on the written tests, the quality of research done for the term paper, and the quality of class participation. Each exam will count for 20% of the final grade; the term paper will count for 25% of the final grade; and class participation for 15% of the final grade.
OFFICE HOURS: My office is located in 110D Hardway Building.
My office hours are the following:
M W F 9:00-10:00
T 2:00-3:00
TH 8:00-9:00
Others by appointment.
Office Tel. # 304-367-4163
Office e-mail: ryan @fscvax.wvnet.edu
COURSE OUTLINE
WEEK 1 - ISSUES FACING LESS INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES
1. What is the Third World?
2. The current situation in most Third World countries
WEEKS 2, 3, AND 4 POLITICAL EXPLANATIONS OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT
WEEK 5 AND 6 - ECONOMIC EXPLANATIONS AND THEORIES OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT
WEEKS 7 - CULTURAL EXPLANATIONS AND THEORIES OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT
WEEKS 8 to 15 - CASE STUDIES
WEEK 8,9, AND 10 The case of Brazil
WEEK 11 and 12 The case of Egypt
WEEK 13 The case of Nigeria
WEEK 14 The case of South Korea
WEEK 15 The case of Tajikistan
WEEK 16 - FINAL
WORLD WIDE WEB SITES FOR LATIN AMERICA AND BRAZIL
http://Brazil.gov
http:/www.wp.com/virtualvoyager/
Current South American culture is the site's topic.
http://www.cnn.com
24-hour news channel
http://www.c-span.org/
See C-SPAN International on the Web for international programming highlights.
http://inic.utexas.edu
International Network Information Center at University of Texas- has pointers to international sites, including all Latin American countries.
http://www.i-trade.com/
I-Trade International; Trade Resources and Data Exchange.
http://sosig.esrc.bris.ac.uk/
Project of the Economic and Social research Council. It catalogs 22 subjects and lists developing countries' URL addresses.
http://www.unsystem.org/
Official web site for the United Nations system of organizations.
http://www.undp.org/
Publications and current information on world poverty.
http://www.unchs.unon.org/
Official site of UNEP with information on UN environmental programs, products, services, events and a search engine.
http://www.info.usaid.gov/
US trade statistics with Latin America and the Caribbean.
http://www.state.gov/indes.html/
US Department of State Home Page provides information on hot topics, international policy, business services and much more.
www.worldbank.org/html/welcome.html/
World Bank Group. News, publications, topics in development, and countries and regions.
http://www.who.ch/
World Health Organization. This site uses Excite search engines to conduct keyword searches.
http://www.wto.org/
Topics include foundation of world trade systems, data on trade and environmental policies, and recent agreements.
BIBLIOGRAPHY ON BRAZIL
Ames, Barry. Politics in Brazil. McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1995
Baakalini, Abdo I. The Brazilian Legislature and Political System. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1992.
Baer, Werner. The Brazilian Economy. Westport CT: Praeger, 1995.
Bresser, Pereira, Luiz Carlos. Economic Crisis and State Reform in Brazil: Toward a New Interpretation of Latin America. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1996.
Burns, Bradford E. A History of Brazil, 3 rd ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.
Diamond, Larry, Juan J. Linz, and Seymour Martin Lipset, eds. Democracy in Developing Countries. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1989.
Dominguez, Jorge ed. Technopols: Freeing Politics and Markets in Latin America in the 1990's. University Park: Penn State Press, 1997.
Eakin, Marshall C. Brazil: The Once and Future Country. New York: St Matin's Press, 1997.
Geddes, Barbara. Politician's Dilemma: Building State Capacity in Brazil. California, 1994.
Guimares, Roberto P. The Ecopolitics of Development in the Third World: Politics and Environment in Brazil. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1995.
Hagopian , Frances . Traditional Politics and Regime Change in Brazil. New York: Cambridge Press, 1996.
Hunter, Wendy. Eroding Military Influence in Brazil: Politicians Against Soldiers. North Carolina: 1997.
Keck, Margaret. The Worker's Party and Democratization in Brazil. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992.
Kryzanek, Michael J. Latin America: Change and Challenge. New York: Harper Collins, 1995.
" Latin America's Drift to Cities." The Economist (October 4, `1995).
Le Breton, Binka. Voices from the Amazon. West Hartford CT: Kumarian Press Inc., 1993.
Levine, Robert. Brazilian Legacies. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1997.
Litvan, Daniel. "Dirt Poor: A Survey of Development and the Environment." The Economist (March 21, 1998)
Mainwaring, Scott, and Timothy R. Scully eds. Building Democratic Institutions: Party Systems in Latin America. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1994.
Mettenheim, Kurt Von. The Brazilian Voter: Mass Politics in Democratic Transition, 1974-1986. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1995.
Page, Joseph. The Brazilians. New York: Addison-Wesley, 1995.
Payne, Leigh. Brazilian Industrialists and Democratic Change. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 1994.
Pearce, David W. and Jeremy J. Warford. World Without End: Economics, Environment, and Sustainable Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.
Revkin, Andrew. The Burning Season: The Murder of Chico Mendes. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1990.
Roett, Riordan. Brazil Politics in a Patrimonial Society, 4 th ed. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1992.
Sader, Emir, and Ken Silverstein. Without Fear of Being Happy: Lula, the Workers Party and Brazil. New York: Verso, 1992.
Scheper-Hughes, Nancy. Death without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1992.
Schneider, Ronald M. Brazil: Culture and Politics in a New Industrial Powerhouse. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1996.
Schneider, Robert R. Government and the Economy on the Amazon Frontier. Washington, DC: The World Bank, 1995.
Skidmore, Thomas E. The Politics of Military Rule in Brazil, 1964-1985. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Skidmore, Thomas E. and Smith, Peter H. Modern Latin America. 2 nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989
Stallings, Barbara, and Robert Kaufman eds. Debt and Democracy in Latin America. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1989.
Stepan, Alfred ed. Democratizing Brazil: Problems of Transition and Consolidation. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Tendler, Judith. Good Government in the Tropics. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.
Trees and the Law." The Economist (February 7, 1998).
Weatherby, Joseph N. The other World: Issues and Politics of the Developing World. New York: Longman , 1997.
Weyland, Kurt. Democracy without Equity: Failures of Reform in Brazil. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1996.
World Bank, "World Bank Says World's Worst Slums Can Be Transformed." Press Release, June 3, 1996.
World Bank. World Development Report 1992: Development and the Environment. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
SOURCES FOR STATISTICAL REPORTS:
US State Department, Background Notes.
The World Fact Book
World Statistics in Brief
World Almanac
The Statesman's Yearbook
Demographic Yearbook
Statistical Yearbook
World Bank, World Development Report
FILMOGRAPHY
A number of films on Brazil and South America are available either in the Fairmont State College collection or can be obtained through interlibrary loan and from FACDIS. These films will shown in the Learning Resource Center:
Amazon (1991)
Video tells of the river's discovery by the Portuguese, the effects of the sugar and rubber removal, as well as the beauty and utility of the forests and the deadly effect thereof on Amazonian and global ecology.
Amazon: Land of the Flooded Forest (1990)
In this tropical wonderland, a profusion of wildlife flourishes in the 50-foot deep water left by annual torrential rains, thus transforming the dry forest floor into a breathtaking sight.
Bahia: Africa in the Americas (1988)
This documentary examines the African cultural traditions preserved by the people of Bahia in their music, dance, art, food, and especially the Candomble religion.
Black Orpheus (1988)
Marcel Camus' extraordinary retelling of the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice with dance, music, and magnificent photography. Portuguese with English subtitles.
Brazil : Heart of South America (1988)
A journey through the various regions of Brazil.
Brazil : The Gathering Millions (1965)
Examines the population problem.
Bye Bye Brazil (1980)
A love story.
Central Station (1998)
Classic humanist art cinema from Brazil. Fernanda Montenegro is magnificent as a crusty old woman whose heart is thawed when she accompanies a motherless boy on a literal and symbolic journey to find his father in Walter Salles's road film about contemporary Brazil finding its identity.
Vidas Secas
The story of migrants in the North East of Brazil.
Voice of the Amazon (1989)
Details of the life of Chico Mendes and his efforts to prevent the deforestation of the Amazon rain forest which led to his murder. Video reveals the over exploitation of the rain forest and the impact of one man.
South America: Land of Many Faces (1975)
Shows the variety and harsh contrasts in parts of South America. Shows the tropical forest areas of the Amazon basin and the lifestyles of the Indians who live there. Also shows life in the desert areas and in the grassy areas.
South America : The Widening Gap (1975)
Depicts the widening gap between the wealthy and the poor of South America. In search of a better life, large number of rural poor have moved to the cities putting severe strain on the nation's economy.
CASE STUDIES
1. The following two case studies are available from Pew Case Studies in International Affairs:
Golich, Vicki and Terry Forest Young. Debt-for-Nature Swaps: Win-Win Solutionor Environmental Imperialism? 1993
This case deals with external environmental policy.
McCleary, Rachel M. Development Strategies in Conflict: Brazil and the Future of the Amazon. 1990
This case deals with Brazilian government polices contributing to the deforestation of the Amazon.
2. The following case is available from the John F. Kennedy School of Government Case Studies in Public Policy and Management:
Gomez-Ibanez, Jose. The Paraguay-Parana Waterway. 1996
This case discusses the cut-back of barge traffic on the Paraguay-Parana River system in order to protect the Pantanal wetlands
METHOD
The main objectives of the course will be to give students an understanding of the fundamental theories and concepts of development by studying real rather than hypothetical cases. First, students will examine the theories of development and underdevelopment . Second, students will seek to apply the theories to actual cases and study the differences between each case. The case of Brazil will be given greater attention because of its importance in the economy of the Western hemisphere, its environmental importance, its biodiversity, and its levels of economic and social development. Special attention will be given to economic development policies and environmental issues in all of the countries under study.
Although the course will consist mostly of lectures, students will be required to participate in class discussions analyzing the challenges facing the less developed countries of the world and examining the various policy alternatives facing governments as they seek to modernize and contribute to economic growth. The text and lectures will be supplemented with additional readings available in the library and placed on reserve. Also, whenever appropriate, the instructor will show video clips and give slide presentations during class. Further, relevant documents, articles, pamphlets, and other materials acquired during study trips abroad will be made available to the class. Some films will be made available at the Media Center and will be shown upon request provided prior arrangements for viewing are made. Students will also be asked to visit some Web sites of foreign governments, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, other international development agencies, and Non-Governmental Organizations.
INTEGRATING THE BRAZIL SEMINAR EXPERIENCE INTO
AN AREA STUDIES COURSE ON THE DEVELOPING WORLD
Prior to the summer of 1998, except for vacation trips to many islands in the Caribbean, I had never visited Latin America. Going to Brazil, however, had been a special desire of mine since the late 1950's. I was living in Egypt at the time. Egypt had undergone a revolution in 1952 and was ruled by a dictator who sought to eradicate the vestiges of foreign occupation and rebuild the nation according to his new philosophy. As austerity programs were implemented, life became harder than ever and many life-long residents of Egypt sought greener pastures. Brazil offered an attractive alternative and large numbers of members of the foreign community of Egypt emigrated to Brazil to start a new life. At first, many of the émigrés wrote to their old friends describing Brazil as a rich land of progress, opportunity and the future. They described life in Rio de Janeiro, or São Paolo as bubbling and positive. They talked about Carnivals, Cariocas, and sambas. Later, correspondence dwindled and eventually, as time went on, these émigrés stopped writing. I expected conditions and life had changed as Brazil's political regime changed.
In 1998, I finally had the opportunity to visit Brazil and observe first hand the country about which I had heard so much in the late 1950's. Of course, my expectations were quite different from those I held in the late 1950's. Thirty years in the United States studying and teaching political science, had somewhat changed my perspectives.
Now I was in Brazil to study economic and environmental development and would have to separate myth from reality. Even though I had extensively read the literature on Brazil prior to departure and was aware of some of the problems facing Brazil, I must admit that I found the reality much harsher than I had anticipated. O course, I started to make comparisons between Brazil and the various countries of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia in which I had lived, visited, and or studied and where economic dependency, rapid population growth, inflated militaries, and inefficient corrupt governments largely supported by the more industrialized countries engaged in policies resulting in inequities, poverty, environmental degradation, violation of human rights, demographic migration, all with catastrophic consequences. Adding the South American experience to my previous travels certainly will enhance my course on the developing world. Visiting some of the different regions of Brazil and holding discussions with public officials, representatives of research institutions and non-governmental organizations, and private citizens provided me with valuable new insights on a variety of issues related to development and awakened interests I did not know I had. Subsequent to our return from Brazil, I found myself looking at a vast volume of literature about Brazil and working at improving my somewhat non-existent Portuguese so as to be better prepared for a future return trip to explore further the Amazon region as well as other parts of the country.
Brazil , the largest country in South America, is endowed with many blessings and so one may wonder why it has not reached the level of development or prosperity enjoyed by other countries of the world. Brazil has attempted to create conditions conducive to economic development but at the same time its policies resulted in environmental degradation. Three major factors - the political, economic, and cultural - help explain the conditions we observed in Brazil. Finding solutions to the various political, economic, and cultural problems is indeed a daunting task.
Typical conditions in many of the areas of Brazil that we visited revealed that progress should be based on "an integrated process of political, social and economic development" as stated by Brazilian president Ernesto Geisel in 1977 when he promised to raise the standard of living of all Brazilians through economic development. Under the military dictatorship, priority was given to unbridled economic growth and national security at the expense of social programs, environmental protection and political liberalization. In fact, economic development efforts created violent conditions which were to be inflicted on the unsuspecting public as well as on the environment. Cubatão (or the " Valley of Death" as it was referred to) which we visited is a vivid reminder of how progress can inflict ecological violence and contribute to human and environmental degradation of unprecedented proportion. Today, there appears to be a greater effort to develop social programs to ameliorate the conditions of the people, to encourage protection of the environment while encouraging economic development. Environmental protection, however, is still given a low priority in spite of increased rhetoric and the passage of laws making it a crime to pollute or desecrate the environment.
As we traveled through Brazil, it became clear that more important, and more challenging than establishing laws, however, is actually enforcing them. The idea to enact a law in itself is good yet if the law is to be actually implemented, it seems that the government would have to shut down many of the Brazilian factories or businesses. Given the fact that industry has frequently been given a grace period for the implementation of requirements under the law and that little provision has been made to provide for actual enforcement, it seems to have given the perception that the national government is not serious about protecting the environment. The solution to some of the environmental problems lies in how to enforce the law on the one hand while at the same time helping those industries to meet the requirements of the law.
The environment is not a high priority with the people because the people in general are either unaware of environmental problems and how and why the government should deal with them. So along with enforcement another form of action is necessary. Spreading awareness is equally essential. A generation which has not been fully educated about the long term benefits of positive action toward the protection of the environment cannot teach another generation what it does not know. Environmental issues have to be integrated into the daily lives of Brazilians. Every school teacher or university professor must talk about the environment. Environmental issues must become part of the daily lives. The intention to achieve this goal is there but I believe that more encouragement by both federal and state governments is needed to supplement the work of environmental NGO's which often seem to work in isolation. Some evidence of positive local action toward the betterment of social, economic, and environmental conditions was present in some of the localities we visited but much work remains to be done.
While in large part our visit to Brazil focused on the environment and less on economic development, it was evident that in addition to the need to generate environmental awareness much needs to be done to alleviate poverty and transform the quality of Brazilian democracy. Typically, a majority of the people live under grim economic conditions. First and more importantly, the majority of the people are poor. A large portion of the working force is unskilled and lives in "irregular housing" or "favelas." Rural-urban migration particularly from the economically depressed North East is imposing great stress on development. The pressure of the poor on the cities is causing growing tensions. The population is growing at an alarming rate. There is a limited social infrastructure to provide the necessary support for a healthy and productive life. The agricultural sector is inefficient and often abuses the environment contributing to the desertification of some areas. The timber industry contributes to the deforestation of the Atlantic and Amazon forests. There is little domestic financial investment in the timber industry opening up the door to Malaysian, Japanese, and other foreign investors to exploit the forest. Resources are allocated and managed inefficiently. Resources are not allocated adequately for health or educational services. Human capital is not adequately developed. Political institutions are weak. The level of political corruption is astounding as politicians, along with law enforcing authorities, the police and the military abuse their powers. All of these problems are imposing great stress on a system in which the institutions of government have failed to bring about the necessary reforms and subsequent progress.
During the course of the semester, an effort will be made to study Brazil in its totality even though only three weeks have been allocated to the unit. The following describes the method to be used so as to incorporate Brazil into the curriculum and includes an outline of the course contents with reading assignments.
LESSON PLAN FOR UNIT ON
THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF BRAZIL
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
READING ASSIGNMENTS: The following books will be on reserve in the library.
Joseph A. Page, The Brazilians. Addison-Wesley, 1995.
Michael Roskin, Countries and Concepts. Prentice Hall, 1998. Chapter 28, pp. 385-418
Global Studies, Latin America. 8 th ed. Dushkin, 1998. Pp. 64-70, and 199-204
Michael Kryzanek, Latin America: Change and Challenge. Harper Collins, 1995.
Joseph Weatherby et al., The Other World: Issues and Politics of the Developing World. New York: Longman, 1997. Pp. 105-149.
Other articles will be placed on reserve in due time.
I. INTRODUCTION: BRAZIL- A MOSAIC OF DIVERSITY
1. Geography
2. Population and the impact of rural-urban migration
3. Religion
4. Education
5. Resources
II. THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN BRAZIL
1. The Portuguese influence
2. Achieving independence (1822)
3. Brazil under the monarchy (1822-1889)
4. The abolition of slavery (1888)
5. The Old Republic (1888-1930)
6. Brazil from Getúlio Vargas to Joo Goulart
7. The Brazilian military in power (1964-1985)
8. Return to civilian rule (1985)
9. Brazil adopts a new Constitution (1988)
10. Rebuilding in Brazil under Fernando Enrique Cardoso
III. POLITICAL EXPLANATIONS FOR UNDERDEVELOPMENT
1. Federalism
a. Limited national initiatives
b. Examples of local initiatives
2. Linking citizens to government
a. Political participation and the electoral system
b. The emergence of a personalista party system
c. Labor unions
d. Business organizations
e. Non-governmental organizations
3. Political Institutions
a. The presidency
b. The legislature
c. Congressional authority over internal affairs
d. Political corruption
IV. ECONOMIC EXPLANATIONS FOR UNDERDEVELOPMENT
1. Constitutional reforms aimed at transforming the economy
2. The Real Plan
3. The problem of inflation
4. Effect of financial crisis in other Latin American nations
5. Foreign investments
6. The state of Brazilian industries
7. The effect of corruption
8. Failure of economic reforms to transform the quality of Brazilian democracy
9. Low priority given to environmental issues from an economic point of view
V. CULTURAL AND SOCIAL EXPLANATIONS FOR UNDERDEVELOPMENT
1. The Brazilian character
2. Poverty
3. Scarcity of health and educational resources
4. Social violence
5. Conflict between modernizing values and Brazilian attitudes
VI. ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES
1. The Brazilian agenda for the environment
2. The problem of deforestation of the rainforest: the Amazon and Atlantic Forests
3. The problem of pollution and pollution abatement
4. The problem of waste and toxic material disposal: The Cubato experience
5. Sustainable land use
6. Desertification
7. The influence of climate changes: the case of the Amazon
8. Sustainable use of water resources and water basin management:
Program for depollution of Guanabara Bay
9. The development non-predatory fisheries
10. Ecological zoning and monitoring, and the problem of enfocement
a. the role of IBAMA
b. SIVAM
11. Urban development and planning
a. problem migration from the North East
b. the problem of "irregular housing" or favelas and slums in the cities
c. Brasilia, a model capital
d. Curitiba , an example of Brazilian urban success
12. Successes and/or failures
VII. Conclusions
1. Will Brazilian democracy succeed?
2. Will Brazil achieve sustainable economic development and end "pollution by poverty"?
3. Will Brazil develop effective programs for the preservation of the environment ?