“Inequality in Latin America: A Presidential Dialogue” features former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and former Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Escobar. Both are Brown professors at large, based at the Watson Institute.
It is the inaugural event in Watson’s new “Lectures on Globalization and Inequality” series, which will bring major academics and practitioners to speak at Brown on one of the defining issues of our time, as part of the Watson Institute’s new Globalization and Inequality Initiative.
The lecture series addresses the fact that global integration today is creating opportunities for some nations, businesses, and individuals – but not all. In fact, emerging or persistent inequalities keep many groups and even entire nations from seeing their quality of life improve.
Latin America is home to the highest degree of income inequality in the world. Cardoso and Lagos have given issues of inequality highest priority on their political agendas. They will join on October 3 in a public discussion of these issues, moderated by Watson Institute Director Barbara Stallings.
“Inequality in Latin America: A Presidential Dialogue” is also a major event in Brown University’s “Year of Focus on Latin America,” involving University lectures, exhibitions, film series, and other activities with a focus on Latin American issues. The focus springs in part from the University’s designation as an Undergraduate National Resource Center for Latin American Studies, given last year to Brown’s Center for Latin American Studies by the US Department of Education.
According to University President Ruth J. Simmons, “The issues and challenges that face the nations of Latin America are neither recent nor entirely contained within their borders. This ‘Year of Focus on Latin America’ is an excellent opportunity to understand those challenges and consider possible international responses.”
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil, is a renowned scholar in sociology and political science. Cardoso received his PhD in sociology from the University of São Paulo. His best-known works in English include Dependency and Development in Latin America (with E. Faletto, 1979) and Charting a New Course: The Politics of Globalization and Social Reform (M. Font, editor, 2001). Cardoso is both an accomplished statesman and a distinguished scholar. He was first elected to national office in 1986, as a senator from the state of São Paulo, and two years later helped establish the Social Democratic Party. He served as Brazil’s foreign minister (1992-1993) and economy minister (1993) before his election as president in 1994. As economy minister and president, he oversaw the development and implementation of an economic stabilization program that controlled inflation, and his policy of reducing government involvement in the economy helped attract foreign investment. He concluded his second presidential term on January 1, 2003.
Ricardo Lagos Escobar is widely regarded as one of Latin America's most important political leaders. Lagos served as president of Chile from 2000-2006. During his term, He was known for aggressively pursuing free-trade agreements, improving healthcare and education legislation, and addressing the crimes of Augusto Pinochet’s military regime. Lagos earned a law degree from the University of Chile in 1960 and a PhD in economics from Duke University in 1966. Lagos has served at the United Nations as consultant and economist in UNESCO and the International Labor Organization. In 1978 he became president of the Democratic Alliance, a coalition of parties opposed to Pinochet. In 1987, he founded the Party for Democracy. He served as minister of education under President Patricio Aylwin (1990-1994) and as minister of public works under President Eduardo Frei (1994-2000). Elected as president in January 2000, Lagos became the first socialist to hold the office since Allende. Since leaving office, Lagos founded the Fundación Democracia y Desarrollo (Foundation for Democracy and Development) and currently serves as its president. He also heads the Club of Madrid, an organization of former presidents whose mission is to promote democracy.
Location: Salomon Center for Teaching, Room 101, on the College Green.
Audio from this event:
Event Summary
Inequality Initiative Launched with Presidential Dialogue on Latin AmericaEconomic policy alone cannot reduce poverty; social policy plays a crucial role, according to former presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil and Ricardo Lagos Escobar of Chile. Their joint lecture yesterday, “Inequality in Latin America: A Presidential Dialogue,” launched the new three-year Globalization and Inequality Initiative at Watson, where both former presidents are in residence as Brown professors at large.
Cardoso began with an overview of Brazil’s achievements in reducing the percentage of people living in poverty, from 41 percent in 1992 to 28 percent in 2005. He cited democracy, financial stability, agricultural reform, education, and health as the keys to reducing poverty. He also admitted that implementing policy to allow these elements to flourish has proved difficult due to competition in the globalizing world and emphasized the importance of continuity in carrying out social policies. “There are lots of problems to be faced,” he said, “but we’ve also learned how to offer people a better life.”
Lagos underscored many of Cardoso’s points. “It’s not enough to have [economic] growth,” said Lagos. “Growth is important… but it takes a long time to reduce poverty… What really makes a difference is social policy.” Emphasizing the importance of democracy and education in reducing poverty in Chile, he argued that citizens, not consumers, shape their own communities. He closed his speech by saying, “At the very end, politics matter because at the very end, politics determine the society where we live.”
In an unusual question-and-answer session between the two former leaders, they discussed the cost of privatizing Chile’s social security system under the late military leader, General Augusto Pinochet. Cardoso noted that Brazil’s policymakers used the Chilean example to encourage social security privatization during his tenure, but said implementing the policy would have cost twice the Brazilian gross domestic product. In reply, Lagos said, “President Bush asked me about this. I said, ‘Mr. President, be careful or else the [US] deficit will increase much more.’”
“Inequality in Latin America: A Presidential Dialogue” followed a day-long academic workshop on “Inequality in Latin America: Politics and Policy.” As part of the Globalization and Inequality Initiative, both analyzed regional dimensions of issues to be researched in this new multidisciplinary, policy-relevant research effort over the coming three years.
The Globalization and Inequality Initiative deals with the new realities of a world growing ever closer together through trade, finance, information, and transportation networks. The dynamics of global integration create opportunities for some nations, businesses, and individuals, but not all. Emerging and persistent inequalities exclude many groups and even entire nations from the potential benefits of globalization. This, in turn, is generating new political, institutional, and security problems that require attention and action.
Under the leadership of Institute Director Barbara Stallings, the Initiative will be anchored in four projects addressing both international and intra-national inequality. They are:
• the dramatic divergence of per capita income between and within countries;
• the causes and consequences of gender inequalities in health, education, and mortality.
• the emergence of global regimes and their relationship to inequality; and
• culture and inequality in the developing world.
“Inequality in Latin America: A Presidential Dialogue” was also a major milestone in Brown’s “Year of Focus on Latin America,” involving University lectures, exhibitions, events, and film series with a focus on Latin American issues. The focus springs in part from the University’s designation as an Undergraduate National Resource Center for Latin American Studies, awarded last year to Brown’s Center for Latin American Studies by the US Department of Education.
By Watson Institute Student Rapporteur Victoria Chao ‘08
Read Brown University’s press release about the "Year of Focus on Latin America" here.
Visit the Center for Latin American Studies here.