President Fernando Henrique Cardoso on a decade of social and economic change in Brazil

Abstract

Fernando Henrique Cardoso has been the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil since January 1, 1995. He was reelected in 1998 in the first elections round, with 53% of the vote. Prior to becoming a public figure, sociologist Fernando Henrique Cardoso had a successful career in academia. He was associate director of the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, and visiting professor at the Collège de France and the University of Paris-Nanterre. He also taught at Cambridge, Stanford, and Berkeley. He was chairman of the International Sociology Association (ISA), 1982-1986. He is currently professor emeritus at the São Paulo University. He has published many articles, both in Brazil and abroad, chief among which are 'Mudanças sociais na América latina' ('Social Changes in Latin America'), 'Dependency and Development in Latin America' (with Enzo Faletto), 'Política e Desenvolvimento em Sociedades Dependentes' ('Politics and Development in Dependent Societies'), and 'A Construção da Democracia' ('The Building of Democracy'). Fernando Henrique Cardoso's political career began with his election as senator. A co-founder of Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (PSDB, The Party of Brazilian Social-Democracy) in 1988, he led the party's senatorial front until 1992. He was appointed minister of foreign relations and of finance before his election to the presidency. As finance minister, Cardoso was the architect of the so-called 'Real Plan,' a recovery strategy to bail out the country's ailing economy. Enormously successful, the plan controlled Brazil's runaway inflation. As president, he promoted numerous reforms, including measures in pursuit of monetary stability, the privatization of state monopolies, and the reduction of trade restrictions. His permanent focus, as the interview below will reveal, has been reducing social inequities in Brazil.