Neoliberalism in Brazil

An article in The New York Times by Matt Sandy discussed the current situation in the Amazon rainforest under Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro. The situation shows an example of a criticism that has been raised of neoliberalism, the theory Bolsonaro subscribes to.

The main issue is that massive swaths of the rainforest, a very important source of environmental health for the planet have been burned down. This is as a result of Bolsonaro's lifting of restrictions on business in the Amazon. Under neoliberalism, government regulation ought to get out of the way and let nations' business do whatever it takes to increase profits. This demonstrates a possible flaw with neoliberalism though, because it does not consider the necessity of government being able to restrict businesses in some cases in order to fulfill its role of protecting its citizens. Through a pure neoliberal lense, it might be seen as an additional bonus that, as the article points out, lots of employment opportunities are opening up for Brazilians to fight fires. However, this doesn't take into account the negative effects of the fires. 

Another potential issue with neoliberalism is its failure to protect certain oppressed groups of people. Bolsonaro announced as part of his campaign his intent to remove all protections for indigenous land in the Amazon. When strictly profit is considered, the interest of businesses can be put before that of people the businesses could benefit from exploiting. Or, considering many of the indigenous groups aren't really part of Brazil's neoliberal system, it might be pointed out the ideology necessitates, as part of economic expansion, literal expansion, which when the land being expanded to is already occupied, constitutes invasion. This moral concern goes outside of strictly economics and presents the idea that perhaps neoliberalism is incompatible with a stable and moral political system.

Looking at this article, a notable trouble with neoliberalism seems to be that it considers a nation's economic growth in a vacuum. However, it is hard to imagine that that alone can constitute development if there is at the same time a decline in environmental and social stability, so perhaps development in those areas should be considered as well.

Source:

Sandy, Matt. "‘The Amazon Is Completely Lawless’: The Rainforest After Bolsonaro’s First Year." The New York Times, The New York Times Company, 5 December 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/world/americas/amazon-fires-bolsonaro-photos.html

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