Brazil Levels Up

Goodbye country of the future, hello country of a limitless present -- Brazil's developmental state powers up:

Rousseff wins Brazil's presidency

Those of us who follow the politics of the world semi-periphery have long noted the interesting fact that Brazil's 21st-century political clock seems to run thirty to thirty-six months behind Russia's. Putin's ascent in 1999 was the rough equivalent of Lula's ascent in 2002, and Russia's 2005 national projects anticipated Brazil's post-2008 infrastructure boom. Just as 2008 was a pivotal moment for Russia, when Putin handed off the baton to the young but extremely capable Medvedev -- one of the smartest executive decisions Putin ever made, because the time had indeed come to pass the baton on to the next generation -- Brazil's 2010 election is witnessing a similar transition, from the era of laying the foundations of the developmental state, to its qualitative expansion.

The battles ahead will be much less glamorous, but are no less important: expanding the Bolsa Familia into a genuine welfare state; building up Brazil's sovereign wealth and deploying its excess earnings into infrastructure, housing, and education; turning Brazil's already impressive renewable energy sector into a global player; and leveraging Brazil's world-class media traditions into digital media industries.