Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on the contradictions and erratic concerns of the return of industrial to Brazil under between 2003 and 2014. It is argued that industrial policy during this period reflected the uneasy modus vivendi of neo-developmentalism and neo-extractivism in the Brazilian political economy.

Paper long abstract:

This paper contributes to the debates on the return of industrial policy and the emergence of 'new developmentalisms' by focusing on the case of Brazil between 2003 and 2014. The political trajectory of Brazil during this period is portrayed in the literature as a partial and progressive shift away from the Washington Consensus and towards neo- developmentalism, typified by the return of industrial policy. Nonetheless, contrary to the aspirations of neo-developmentalism, the revival of industrial policy in Brazil witnessed the continuation, and even acceleration, of deindustrialisation and export re-primarisation.

A comparative analysis of the industrial policy plans announced by the Brazilian governments during this period is performed to shed some light on the apparent paradox of the return of industrial policy in Brazil. The findings suggest that the Brazilian governments' concern over deindustrialisation and re-primarisation was erratic and very sensitive to the changing economic environment. Therefore, it is argued that the nature of Brazilian industrial policy cannot be thoroughly explained by the representation of the Brazilian policy regime as a liberal/neo-developmental binary where industrial policy typifies the latter. Alternatively, the hypothesis advanced in this paper is that industrial policy during this period reflected the uneasy modus vivendi of neo-developmentalism and neo-extractivism in the Brazilian political economy.