Power and the Ruling Classes in Northeast Brazil: Juazeiro and Petrolina in Transition (Cambridge Latin American Studies, Series Number 69)

In this case study of the structure of power and ruling class domination, the author analyzes the political economy of Juazeiro, Bahia, and Petrolina, Pernambuco while focusing on the history of patriarchal families, ruling class, and patrimonial governments. He shows that the ruling classes benefited from the outside capital of the State and corporations, but that the State is an all pervasive force that facilitates the reproduction of advanced forms of capital. An essential issue is how the local ruling class relates to the State and national and multinational capital, for it is clear that the full development of productive forces in the region has not been achieved and that the transition to capitalism, while underway, has not yet been completed. This case study of the structure of power and ruling-class domination in the heart of the sertão of Northeast Brazil is based upon six field trips over a period of fifteen years. Analysis of the political economy of Juazeiro, Bahia, and Petrolina, Pernambuco - two contiguous towns along the São Francisco River - focuses on the history of patriarchal families, ruling class, and patrimonial governments. Family dominance is related to the rise of the Coelhos in Petrolina and the decline of the Vianas in Juazeiro. Agressive tactics and links to Recife allowed the Coelhos to expand and assume control over most commerce in Petrolina and neighbouring municipalities to Juazeiro. In both situations the intervention of the state in the region, usually bolstered by international credits, affected traditional standards of living. The construction of the Sobradinho Dam, for example, brought problems for small farmers along the banks of the São Francisco who could no longer count on the natural flow of river water. State policy also favored corporations to the detriment of small producers on cooperative farms This report from a Recife newspaper provides a glimpse of political-economic life in the early 1970s in Juazeiro and Petrolina, neighboring towns of some sixty thousand inhabitants each that are closely linked to each other, to their respective states of Bahia and Pernambuco in the Brazilian Northeast, to the federal government centered in Brasilia, and, increasingly, to international capital.

this Case Study Of The Structure Of Power And Ruling-class Domination In The Heart Of The Sertão Of Northeast Brazil.