The New Brazil tells the story of South America’s largest country as it has evolved from a remote Portuguese colony into a regional leader, a respected representative for the developing world, and, increasingly, an important partner for the United States and the European Union. For much of the twentieth century, Brazil seemed mired in perpetual economic crisis. Today, prudent fiscal and monetary policies have yielded high levels of foreign direct investment and an investment-grade rating for its debt. Brazil is also emerging as an energy powerhouse, and policymakers are more and more confronting the challenge of reducing poverty among tens of millions of people. In this engaging book, Riordan Roett traces the long road Brazil has traveled to reach its present status and examines the many challenges it has overcome and those that lie ahead. He discusses the country’s development as a colony, empire, and republic; the making of modern Brazil, beginning with the rise to power of Getúlio Vargas; the advent of the military government in 1964; the return to civilian rule two decades later; and the pivotal presidencies of Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Luiz Inácio (Lula) da Silva, leading to the nation’s current status in world affairs as one of the BRIC countries. As Brazil prepares to elect a new president in October 2010, much remains to be done to consolidate and expand the country’s global role. Nonetheless, as a player on the world stage, Brazil is here to stay.
