SOME INSIGHTS OF NEOLIBERALISM IN BRAZIL FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Aiming to raise the debate and new interpretations, we rehearse a reflection to understand different, apparently, unrelated processes through an articulating effort of current issues, whose theoretical formulation and empirical apprehension still generate confusion. To underline that Brazil is not a particular case, we make some critical remarks on the neoliberalization of life and the social production of space. (a) To clarify the financialization mechanisms, (b) highlight some interactions among financial capital actions, backed by the State, the media, and right-wing political movements, and (c) underline how the persistence of patrimonialism and unconcluded modernity intensify such processes. Events unfolding around the world, changes in the Brazilian political and economic conjuncture, since late 2015, suggest the imperative to consider: a) the character of the capitalist State in the current phase of financialization and accumulation; b) the very meaning of neoliberalism; c) the association of financial capital and the State; d) the societal and sociability crisis established, given the dehumanization of the Other and the potential of financialization transform all elements and aspects of life and social space into financial assets.

Keywords: Neoliberalizing Space; Capitalist State; Global South; Brazil; Sociability Crisis; Neocolonialism.  

Author Biography

Ester Limonad, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niteroi (RJ, Brasil

Laureada em 2007 com o III Prêmio Milton Santos da Associação Nacional de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação em Planejamento Urbano e Regional. Cátedra Rui Barbosa em Estudos Brasileiros da Universidade de Leiden (2014), Pós-Doutorado em Geografia Humana pela Universidad de Barcelona (2006), Doutora em Arquitetura e Urbanismo pela Universidade de São Paulo (1996), Mestre em Planejamento Urbano e Regional pela Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (1984), Graduada em Arquitetura e Urbanismo pela Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (1977). Foi membro do Conselho Fiscal (2009-2011), Secretária-Executiva Nacional (05-12/2011) e Presidente da Associação Nacional de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação em Planejamento Urbano e Regional (12/2011 ? 07/2013). Representante da ANPUR junto ao Global Planning Education Network (GPEAN). Professora Titular da Universidade Federal Fluminense, Coordenadora do Grupo Cidade, Espaço e Lugar (GECEL), Consultora Ad Hoc do: CNPq, CAPES, Fundação Araucária, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Prociência), das Universidade Federais de Goiás, Mato Grosso e Sergipe e dos Periódicos Scripta Nova, Biblio 3W, Geographia, Geografias, Plurais, Revista Brasileira de Estudos Urbanos e Regionais, da Revista Brasileira de Estudos Populacionais (ABEP) e São Paulo em Perspectiva. É membro da Red Internacional de Geocrítica, Membro do Conselho Editorial das revistas Geographia (UFF), Geografias (UFMG), Plurais (UFGO) e ETC. Membro do Comitê Científico do X Simpósio de Geografia Urbana, Membro do Comitê Científico do XIII Encontro Nacional da Associação Nacional de Pesquisa e Planejamento Urbano e Regional. Organizadora de diversos eventos na área de Geografia. Autora de diversos trabalhos e artigos publicados em periódicos científicos nacionais e internacionais. Foi Coordenadora do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geografia (2008-2010), Tem experiência na área de Geografia Humana e Regional, com ênfase em Análise Regional, atuando principalmente nos seguintes temas: urbanização, dispersão territorial, reestruturação produtiva, redes, Rio de Janeiro e lugar. Orientadora de Dissertações de Mestrado e Teses de Doutorado defendidas.

References

ARENDT, H. (2006). Eichmann in Jerusalem. A Report on the Banality of Evil. London: Penguin, 2006.
ARRIGHI, G. Hegemony Unravelling I. New Left Review, n. 32, p. 23-30, March/April 2005. https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii32/articles/giovanni-arrighi-hegemony-unravelling-1
ARRIGHI, G. The Long Twentieth Century. London: Verso, 1996.
ASH, T. Yes, we can halt the rise of the international far right. The Guardian, 17/11/2017. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/17/international-far-right-poland-march-nationalism
BAUMAN, Z. Liquid Times. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2007.
BLOCH, E. The Principle of Hope. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995.
BRENNER, N.; THEODORE, N. Cities and the Geographies of "Actually Existing Neoliberalism". Antipode, v. 34, n. 3, p. 349-379, 2002. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8330.00246
CARLOS, A.F., VOLOCHKO, D., ALVAREZ, I.P. (ed.) (2018). The City as a Commodity. Retrieved from http://www.livrosabertos.sibi.usp.br/portaldelivrosUSP/catalog/download/175/161/767-1?inline=1
CHOMSKY, N. Requiem for the American Dream. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2017.
CONNOLLY, K. Populist talkshows fuel rise of far right, German TV bosses told. The Guardian, 13/jun/2018. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/13/populist-talkshows-fuel-rise-of-far-right-german-tv-bosses-told
DOWBOR, L. A Era do Capital Improdutivo. São Paulo: Outras Palavras, 2017.
EDWARDS, B.; BLEWETT, K. Slavery: A Global Investigation. United Kingdom: BBC True Vision of London, 2000. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/39383629
ESCOBAR, A. Beyond the Third World: Imperial Globality, Global Coloniality and Anti-Globalisation Social Movements. Third World Quarterly, v. 25, n.1, p. 207-230, 2004. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3993785
ESCOBAR, A. The making and unmaking of the third world through development. In: M. RAHNEMA; M.; BAWTREE, V. (ed.). The Post-Development Reader. London: Zed Books, 1997, p.85-93.
FARIA, G. Democracia amputada. Revista Fórum, 2011. Retrieved from https://www.revistaforum.com.br/democracia-amputada/
FIORI, J.L. História, estratégia e desenvolvimento. São Paulo: Boitempo, 2014.
GAGO, V.; MEZZADRA, S. A Critique of the Extractive Operations of Capital: Toward an Expanded Concept of Extractivism. Rethinking Marxism, v. 29, n. 4, p. 574-59, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1080/08935696.2017.1417087
GALEANO, E. Las palabras andantes. Buenos Aires: Catálogos, 1993. http://resistir.info/livros/galeano_las_palabras_andantes.pdf
HARVEY, D. The new imperialism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
HAYEK, F.A. The Road to Serfdom. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2007.
IANNI, O. A Sociologia e o mundo moderno. Tempo Social, São Paulo, v. 1, n.1, p. 7-27, 1989. https://doi.org/10.1590/ts.v1i1.83315
JARA, A. Chile slams World Bank for bias in competitiveness rankings. Reuters, 2018. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chile-worldbank/chile-slams-world-bank-for-bias-in-competitiveness-rankings-idUSKBN1F20SN.
JESSOP, B. State Theory. Putting the Capitalist State in Its Place. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania University Press, 1990.
JESSOP, B. Liberalism, Neoliberalism, and Urban Governance: A State–Theoretical Perspective. Antipode. v.34, n. 3, p. 452-472, 2002. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8330.00250
JOFFE, J. “The right is rising and social democracy is dying across Europe – but why?”. The Guardian, 29/10/2017. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/29/right-social-democracy-dying-europe-afd-far-right-germany
LEFEBVRE, H. Right to the City. In Kofman, E.; Lebas, E. (ed.) Writings on Cities. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996, p. 63-182.
LEFEBVRE, H. State, Space, World. Selected Essays. Minneapolis; University of Minnesota Press, 2009.
LEFEBVRE, H. The Production of Space. Oxford. Blackwell, 1991.
LEFEBVRE, H. The Survival of Capitalism. London: Allison & Busby, 1976.
LIMONAD, E. Em busca do Paraíso: algumas considerações sobre o desenvolvimento. Revista Brasileira de Estudos Urbanos e Regionais, v.15, n. 1, p. 125-138, 2013. https://doi.org/10.22296/2317-1529.2013v15n1p125
LIMONAD, E. Um novo planejamento ou um novo Estado para um novo Brasil?. In: LIMONAD, E.; CASTRO, E. (ed.). Um novo planejamento para um novo Brasil?. Rio de Janeiro: Letra Capital, 2014. p. 80-99
LIMONAD, E. Utopias urbanas, sonhos ou pesadelos?. In: Benach, N.; Zaar, M.H.; Vasconcelos Jr, P.M. (ed.). Las utopías y la construcción de la sociedad del futuro. Barcelona: Universidad de Barcelona, 2016. Retrieved from http://www.ub.edu/geocrit/xiv_esterlimonad.pdf
LIMONAD, E.; BARBOSA, J. L. Why don’t we do it in the road?. Biblio3w, v.22, n. 1197, p. 1-22, 2017. Retrieved from http://www.ub.edu/geocrit/b3w-1197.pdf
LUXEMBURG, R. The accumulation of capital. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1951. Retrieved from https://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1913/accumulation-capital/accumulation.pdf
MARX, K. Capital. (volume 3). London: Penguin – New Left Books, 1991.
MIRAFTAB, F. Insurgent Practices and Decolonization of Future(s). In GUNDER, M.; MADANIPOUR, A.; WATSON, V. (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Planning Theory. New York: Routledge, 2018. p. 276-288. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315696072
MISTRATI, M.; ROMANO, U.R. The dark side of chocolate. Denmark: Bastard Film & TV, 2010. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOp-EbZltD4
PECK, J., THEODORE, N., BRENNER, N. Neoliberal Urbanism: Models, Moments, Mutations. SAIS Review of International Affairs – Johns Hopkins University, v.29, n. 1, p. 49-66, 2009. http://doi.org/10.1353/sais.0.0028
PECK, J. TICKELL, A. Neoliberalizing Space. Antipode, v. 34, n.3, p. 380-404, 2002. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-8330.00247
PIETERSE, J.N. Reorganizing Globalization. Academic Seminar. Faculty of Political Science and Public Administration Chiang Mai University. June 30th 2017. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyLE5gRCZIg&t=136s
POULANTZAS, N. State, Power, Socialism. London, New Left Books, 1978.
REICH, W. The mass psychology of fascism. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux., 2013. Retrieved from http://www.wilhelmreichtrust.org/mass_psychology_of_fascism.pdf
RIBEIRO, A.C.T. Sociabilidade hoje. Leitura da experiência urbana. Caderno CRH, v. 18, n. 45, p. 411-422, 2005. Retrieved from https://portalseer.ufba.br/index.php/crh/article/view/18535
SAID, E. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books, 1979.
SANFELICI, D. Financeirização e a produção do espaço urbano no Brasil: uma contribuição ao debate. EURE, v. 39, n. 118, p. 27-46, 2013. Retrieved from https://www.eure.cl/index.php/eure/article/viewFile/408/610
SASSEN, S. Expulsions: Brutality and Complexity in the Global Economy. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2014.
SASSEN, S. When Local Housing Becomes an Electronic Instrument: The Global Circulation of Mortgages — A Research Note. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, v. 33 n. 2, p. 411-426, 2009. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2427.2009.00868.x
SENNET, R. The fall of public man. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977.
SLATER, D. Geography and Underdevelopment - 1. Antipode, v.5, n.3, p. 21-32, 1973. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8330.1973.tb00568.x
SMITH, A. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Soares, S.M. (ed.). MetaLibri Digital Library, 2007. Retrieved from https://www.ibiblio.org/ml/libri/s/SmithA_WealthNations_p.pdf
SVAMPA, M.; VIALE, E. Maldesarrollo. Buenos Aires: Katz, 2014.
TEMIN, P. The Vanishing Middle Class. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2017.
Published
27/10/2021
How to Cite
LIMONAD, Ester. SOME INSIGHTS OF NEOLIBERALISM IN BRAZIL FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE. Mercator, Fortaleza, v. 20, oct. 2021. ISSN 1984-2201. Available at: <http://www.mercator.ufc.br/mercator/article/view/e20031>. Date accessed: 05 nov. 2024. doi: https://doi.org/10.4215/rm2021.e20031.
Section
ARTICLES