The art of conquest: the international capital in the Brazilian capitalist development (1951-1992)

Author(s)

Fábio Antonio de Campos

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Economia
• Defense date: 2009-08-24

Examining board members

Plinio Soares de Arruda Sampaio Junior; Luiz Antonio Mattos Filgueiras; Mariano Francisco Laplane; Paulo Alves de Lima Filho; Pedro Paulo Zahluth Bastos

• Advisor: Plinio Soares de Arruda Sampaio Junior

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to research the relationship between international capital and the Brazilian capitalist development between 1951 and 1992, which resulted in the deepening of our external dependence. In order to do so, we have investigated the role of foreign direct investment in the general patterns of capitalist accumulation and its influence on peripheral economies. Subsequently, we have analyzed the Brazilian particularity and the stages of its internationalization of production during the process of capitalist development. Furthermore, we have also studied the interaction between international capital and the Brazilian State. Based on these elements, our thesis is that, while capital internationalization advanced through different stages, it weakened the ability of the country to command an autonomous process of industrialization and to emancipate from its condition of underdevelopment. In gradually subordinating itself to the art of conquest of international capital, the Brazilian economy has reduced its capacity to complete the implantation of productive forces. The result was a national economy with a relatively complex industry, yet highly vulnerable to the structural uncertainty which emanates from the valorization of international capital. (AU)