Abstract
The inauguration of Geisel’s presidential term in 1974 and the announcement of his project of ‘gradual and secure’ political relaxation marked the start of a new period of military-authoritarian rule. The President’s statements signalling the prospects of political changes seemed to be more meaningful and forceful than the frequent promises of a return to democracy made by his predecessors. In fact, the appointment of Ernesto Geisel — a general who was not in active service in the army, but who was, at the time, holding the important position of president of the state oil company, Petrobrás — was in itself a significant event. As most political analysts pointed out, it represented the return to power of the castelistas — the military group linked to the Escola Superior de Guerra (the War School), which, gathered around Castelo Branco, had controlled the government during the first years of the regime.1
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Notes
One of the explanations of the regime’s political opening has been based on this change of the military group in control of the government According to this view, the abertura was a project of the castelista group who, returning to power, intended to ‘correct the course’ of the 1964 ‘Revolution’ which had been diverted from its original aims. It is not our intention to discuss the reasons that led to the regime’s decision to promote a political opening. Certainly an explanation for that involves the consideration of a set of more complex factors than the one pointed to above. Surveying the debate on the abertura from 1973 to 1981, M. F. Figuiredo and J. A. B. Cheibub identified five lines of interpretation for the political opening. Besides the one which was mentioned above, the political opening has been seen as: a) a product of the economic crisis: given the economic crisis which the country had started to endure since the beginning of the 1970’s it was necessary to establish a new political pact in order to guarantee the functioning of the economic model; b) a product of economic development: the complexity of social interests emerged as a consequence of the country’s economic diversification, requiring political development as a means of administering this new situation; c) the regime’s search for legitimacy: the need for institutionalizing a political arrangement which would increase the level of participation, since the source of legitimation used by the regime — economic success (in addition to coercion) — had become excessively costly; d) the political opening as a product of a crisis of authority: a response to the excessive centralization of power which provoked a breakdown of the mechanisms of authority and rendered decisions taken at central level inoperative. Cf. M. F. Figueiredo and J. A B. Cheibub, ‘A Abertura Politica de 1973 a 1981: Quem disse o Quê, Quando — Inventário de um debate’, Boletim Informativo e Bibliográfico de Ciências Sociais, Rio de Janeiro, No. 14, 1982, pp. 29–61.
The main works which discuss the political opening are: W. G. dos Santos, Poder e Politica: Crônica do Autoritarismo Brasileiro (Rio de Janeiro, Editora Forense, 1978)
B. Lamounier, ‘O Discurso e Processo (da distensão às opções do regime brasileiro)’, in H. Rattner (org.) Brasil 1990, Caminhos Alternativos do Desenvolvimento, (São Paulo: Brasiliense, 1979); B. Lamounier ‘Notes on the Study of Re-Democratization’, Working Papers of the Wilson Centre, no. 58
B. Lamounier and A. R. Moura, ‘Polftica Economica e Abertura Politica — 1973–1983’, Cadernos IDESP, no. 4, 1984
B. Lamounier and J. E. Faria (orgs.) O Futuro da Abertura: Um Debate, (São Paulo, Cortez Ed., 1981)
H. Trindade (org.) Brasil em Perspectiva: Dilemas da Abertura Politica (Porto Alegre: Sulina, 1982)
S. C. Velasco e Cruz and C. E. Martins, ‘De Castelo a Figueiredo: Uma Incursao na Pré-histdria da Abertura’, in B. Sorj and M. H. Tavares de Almeida (orgs.), Sociedade e Politica no Brasil pós-64 (Sao Paulo: Brasiliense, 1983)
F. Henrique Cardoso, ‘The Authoritarian Regime at the Crossroads: The Brazilian case’, Working Papers of the Wilson Centre, No. 93, 1981.
Quoted in B. Kucinsky, Abertura, a História de uma Crise (São Paulo: Ed. Brasil Debates, 1982), p. 20.
Source: José Serra, ‘Ciclos e Mudanças Estruturais na Economia Brasileira do Pos-Guerra’, in L. G. Belluzzo and R. Coutinho (orgs.), Desenvolvimento Capitalista no Brasil — Ensaios sobre a Crise (São Paulo: Brasiliense, 1982), pp. 66 and 97.
Without intending to give an exhaustive account of the works produced about the economic crisis, some works must be mentioned: Paul I. Singer, A Crise do Milagre’ (Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, 1976)
Edmar Bacha, Os Mitos de uma Década — Ensaios de Economia Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, 1976)
Pedro Malan and R. Bonelli, ‘The Brazilian Economy in the Seventies: Old and New Developments’, World Development, 5 Nos 1/2, 1977
Carlos F. Lessa, ‘A Estratégia de Desenvolvimento 1974–1976 — Sonho e Fracasso’ (Faculdade de Economia e Administração da UFRJ, tese apresentada para concurso a Professor Titular, 1978)
Celso Furtado, O Brasil Pós ‘milagre’ (Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, 1981); L. G. Belluzzo and Renata Coutinho (orgs.), Desenvolvimento Capitalista — Ensaios sobre a Crise.
See, C. R. Duarte, ‘A Lei Falcão: Antecedentes e Impacto’, in B. Lamounier (org.) Voto de Desconfiança (Petropolis: Vozes/Cebrap, 1980) particularly page 194.
Carlos Estevâo Martins, ‘O Balanço da Campanha’, in B. Lamounier and F. H. Cardoso (eds.) Os Partidos e as Eleições no Brasil (Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, 1975). The same line of interpretation is found in the article by F. H. Cardoso, ‘Partidos e Deputados em São Paulo: O Voto e a Representação Politica’, in B. Lamounier and F. H. Cardoso, Os Partidos.
Lei Orgânica dos Partidos Politicos. See Senado Federal, Legislação Eleitoral e Partidária (Brasilia: Senado Federal, 1974).
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© 1988 Maria D’Alva Gil Kinzo
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Kinzo, M.D.G. (1988). 1974–7: Attempting to Consolidate Legal Opposition Politics. In: Legal Opposition Politics under Authoritarian Rule in Brazil. St Antony’s/Macmillan Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08790-7_6
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