New Configuration of the Brazilian State: Liberty and Development in the Evolution of Government in Brazil (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION It is curious that a discussion that might appear to be restricted to the past, in light of the recent hegemony of neoliberal rhetoric which defends a global market economy, supported by the free circulation of financial capital, could have reemerged on the world stage with so much emphasis (Bresser-Pereira, 2009; Datz, 2009; Santos et al., 2007; Sheppard & Leitner, 2010). The origin of the crash of the United States financial system in 2008 lay in the unsustainable and irresponsible credit offer by financial institutions based on the property market's assets, whose instability not only challenged the solidity of banks and financial and insurance companies, but also the liberal vision of a self-regulated market (Bresser-Pereira, 2009), returning once again to the discussion concerning to what extent the State plays an active and important role in the regulation, and principally in the stimulation, of the economy (Datz, 2009; Gore, 2000) . This shift of ideas could also be detected during the 1997 Asian crisis, when Keynesian economists and ideas were once again in vogue, as seems to be the case whenever a crisis hits the economy. To quote Datz (2009, p. 620) "Keynes is back in fashion".