Brazil's Second Chance: En Route Toward the First World

Brazil is currently in a critical phase of a decades-long transformation from a patrimonial society--based on the cultivation and export of sugar and coffee--to a modernized industrial and service economy with effective democratic governance. It is the world's fifth largest nation-state in area and population, and ranks eighth in total economic output. Since World War II, Brazil has been a leader in international trade governance and negotiation, playing an important part in development of the GATT and the WTO. Currently, the country is a major factor in negotiations toward a hemispherewide Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). However, Brazil's political record in the past half century has been erratic and it has struggled with high inflation and balance-of-payment deficits. In this major new work, a former American ambassador to Brazil examines the social, political, and economic history of the country since the 1930s and discusses whether Brazil is now ready to assume a place as an important participant among First World nations.

Lincoln Gordon is a guest scholar in Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution. He served as U.S. ambassador to Brazil from 1961-66 and as assistant secretary of state for Inter-American Affairs from 1966-68. A former president of Johns Hopkins University, he is the author of several books, including Eroding Empire: Western Relations with Eastern Europe (Brookings, 1987).

Lincoln Gordon is a former Harvard professor and president of Johns Hopkins University.