The nature of the PT governments: a variety of neoliberalism?
Ana Paula Colombi (UNICAMP)
Not so long ago Brazil was presented as the worldwide example of a successful peripheral country, a ‘posterboy’ of the benefits of a stable democratic system and economic stability. Lula and his popularity were taken at face value for his ‘bold move’ of leaving confrontational and socialist ideas behind, embracing instead moderation, seducing international business worldwide and taking care of the poor.
However, the ongoing political crisis since 2013 has shifted dramatically the previous esteem of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) as a ruling party and shaken the assumption of Brazil as a new emerging global leader within the group of BRICS. These changes in the national and international perceptions of PT’s success have also been reflected in different ways in the many waves of readings and debates on the nature of the PT governments, generating a rich and diverse literature both within Brazil and internationally.
The trajectory of the PT poses a unique challenge to its understanding, one that has been insufficiently addressed by the literature. The PT as a party in power seems easier to comprehend when compared with other parties internationally than when looking at its own history, that of a party stemming from the political project of sindicalismo novo (the new anti-dictatorship trade unionism) and radical social movements. This made the PT not only unique for its grassroots, bottom-up approach within the brazilian political system but also outstanding among the left in the region for its more than three decades of history that knew no divisions. The transformation of PT once in federal power has been frequently addressed through the study of Lulismo (Lula’s leadership). This deflection prevented the question of the discontinuities of the PT, putting forward a variety of explanations that either, stemming from mainstream political science, underline the novelties of the constituencies and thus their interests and demands, or that, based on Gramscian thought, understand this process as transformismo that is changes in the internal organisational models and the profile of party’s leadership. A reconciliation of PT’s history with PT’s present seems an impossible enterprise, both theoretically and politically.
The economic policies of the PT governments have been addressed in a different context. Their continuity and change are discussed, in this case, against the neoliberal model of Fernando Henrique Cardoso. This in turn is about how to assess the importance of the changes, since continuities are overwhelmingly evident.
Those who propose to characterize the nature of the PT as a developmentalist project insist on the significance of the shifts in the role of the state, industrial policy and the redistributive policies. A rich debate has flourished along these lines as to how to best qualify this developmentalism, both to differentiate it from those of the post-war and as to how to better capture the specificities of the current model. In this vein, social-desenvolvimentismo emphasizes the redistribution of income, novo-desenvolvimentismo focuses on export-led growth and fiscal discipline and neodesenvolvimentisto highlights its limits vis-à-vis the post-war experiences. A different set of readings comes from the idea that the PT has embodied challenges to neoliberalism, and should thus be understood as a post-neoliberal, or even anti-neoliberal government: one where the continuities are difficult legacies of the previous era, rather than structural characteristics of the period.
The political turmoil that has been ongoing since 2013, including in its wake the impeachment of Dilma and a profound crisis of the PT, should not be an opportunity to close these fruitful debates. It should, rather, be seen as a unique chance to reassess the experience from a broad perspective that considers the whole cycle of the PT, inviting to reflect in a way as encompassing as possible that can account for the whole cycle including party’s demise/crisis in 2016. A second vantage point of this specific moment is that the legacies of the period can be acknowledged and appropriately appraised.
This special issue stems from the understanding that a perspective that has not been fully developed is one that attempts to theorise the varieties of neoliberalism. We thus invite for contributions that try to develop this perspective in what we hope will contribute to understanding the nature of the PT and Brazil, but also widen and enrich our conceptualisation of neoliberalism beyond the region as well. The challenge is thus not to deny the existence of peculiarities and shifts, but rather to attempt at reconciling them with a broader understanding of the period and of neoliberalism. The specific conditions of PT hegemony, the nature and characteristics of its social policies, the continuities and changes of its economic policies, the political regime and the mode of integration to the world market, all pose challenges to our understanding of neoliberalism as we knew it. The question is whether they constitute a distinctive mode of domination and accumulation or rather a specific variety of a fundamentally similar mode of accumulation and domination. The aim of this special issue of Latin American Perspectives is thus to invite to a discussion of the nature of the PT governments. We will be welcoming contributions that both attempt at an account of the whole cycle of the PT and that either conceptualize it as a variety of neoliberalism or have a substantial critical engagement with this perspective. Submissions are invited on any relevant topic within this framework, which could include but are not limited to:
Theoretical engagements with the problem of how to define different varieties of neoliberalism, specifically how they are relevant to understand the PT governments Macroeconomic or political economic approaches to the policies and accumulation dynamics of the PT, including financial and fiscal policies, the impact of the commodity boom, balance of payments, and exchange rates.
The political system under PT: state reform, neo-populism, party alliances and corruption Assessments of the productive development policies (industry, agriculture, etc.), including trade and investment policies, the impact of PAC, BNDES
- Changes and continuities of the social policies and the social structure during the PT governments, including distributive impact of different policies and multiple dimensions of inequality
- Discussions of the transformations of the job market, capital/state/labour relations and trade unionism under the PT rule
- Regional and local perspectives of the PT governments: policies and heterogeneities of space
Submitting Manuscripts
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Please feel free to contact the Issue Editors with questions pertaining to the issue but be sure that manuscripts are sent to the LAP office by e-mail to: lap@ucr.edu with the subject line – “Your name – MS for PT issue”
Alfredo Saad Filho (SOAS): as59@soas.ac.uk
Juan Grigera (UCL): j.grigera@ucl.ac.uk
Ana Paula Colombi (UNICAMP): anafcolombi@gmail.com