Brazil at the Close of the Twentieth Century: A Case of Success

Abstract

The article examines analyses of Brazilian society and politics which underscore negative aspects of the question and generally result in incorrect evalua- tions and predictions about Brazil. Temporal series on a number of socioeconomic as well as political data are used to show that such negative analyses of Brazil have proven wrong. The conclusion offers a brief analysis of how certain segments of Brazilian social science have failed to detect the major improvements Brazil has witnessed this century.