Agents of Brazilian Instability in the Light of Canadian Experience
| Published date | 01 September 1968 |
| Date | 01 September 1968 |
| Author | James L. Busey |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591296802100309 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
468
AGENTS
OF
BRAZILIAN
INSTABILITY
IN
THE
LIGHT
OF
CANADIAN
EXPERIENCE
JAMES
L.
BUSEY
University
of
Colorado,
Colorado
Springs
T FIRST
GLANCE,
an
investigation
of
Brazilian
stability
or
instability
in
A
the
light
of
Canadian
experience
would
seem
to
be
a
singularly
unfruitful
~L
-JL
sort
of
enterprise.
The
two
countries
appear
to
be
hardly
comparable
at
all.
Canada
is
temperate
and
arctic;
Brazil,
tropical
and
subtropical.
Canada
was
settled
by
France
and
Britain;
Brazil,
by
Portugal
and
Africa.
The
population
of
Brazil
is
at
least
four
times
that
of
Canada.
PARALLELS
Yet,
there
are
important
similarities.
Each
country
is,
in
its
own
way,
a
second
power
in
this
hemisphere.
Each
is
extremely
large,
with
well
over
three
million
square
miles
of
land.
Each
includes
vast
regions
of
sparse
population.
In
Brazil,
some
71
per
cent
of
her
territory
is
occupied
by
only
13
per
cent
of
her
population.
In
Canada,
74
per
cent
of
her
territory
is
occupied
by
only
29
per
cent
of
her
people,
and
this
leaves
out
of
account
the
thinly
populated
northern
regions
of
Quebec
or
the
northern
and
western
parts
of
Ontario.’-
Each
country
is
well
supplied
with
resources.
Brazil
produces
significant
quantities
of
manganese,
chrome,
industrial
diamonds,
and
tin.
Canada
is
richly
possessed
of
cobalt,
zinc,
bauxite,
uranium,
platinum,
and
silver.
Both
countries
are
well
endowed
with
copper,
gold,
coal,
iron,
oil,
nickel,
tungsten,
quartz,
lead,
soils,
timber,
and
power.2
2
Each
country
received
her
independence
peacefully,
without
socially
disrup-
tive
violence.
The
most
violent
episode
in
the
political
development
of
Canada
was
the
British
victory
at
Quebec
in
1759.
Representative
government
was
established
in
the
Maritime
Provinces,
and
a
succession
of
conferences,
parliamentary
acts,
and
evolving
customs,
gradually
molded
Canada
into
her
present
form.
In
1791,
the
NOTE :
This
article
is
drawn
from
a
paper
presented
at
the
Conference
of
the
Western
Politi-
cal
Science
Association,
Victoria,
B.C.,
Canada,
March
19,
1965.
Research
was
accom-
plished
in
part
while
in
Brazil
on
a
Fulbright
grant,
July
27-December
24,
1963;
and
while
in
Canada
during
the
summers
of
1960
and
1964.
1
Brazilian
figures
are
derived
from
T.
Lynn
Smith,
Brazil:
People
and
Institutions
(Baton
Rouge:
Louisiana
State
U.
Press,
1963),
Table
I,
p.
41.
Canadian
figures
are
derived
from
Canada,
Dominion
Bureau
of
Statistics,
Canada
Year
Book,
1965
(Otta-
wa:
Queen’s
Printer,
1965),
Table
4,
p.
164.
2
Derived
from
Norris
B.
Lyle
and
Richard
A.
Calman
(eds.),
Statistical
Abstract
of
Latin
America,
1965
(9th
ed.;
Los
Angeles:
Latin
American
Center,
U.
of
California,
1966),
Tables
66-71,
pp.
95-100;
and
David
S.
Castro,
Berl
Golomb,
and
Christopher
Breyer
(eds.),
Statistical
Abstract
of
Latin
America,
1963
(Los
Angeles:
Center
of
Latin
American
Studies,
U.
of
California,
1963),
Tables
35
and
36,
pp.
59
and
60,
which
contains
some
information
on
resources
not
included
in
the
more
recent
edition;
Canada,
op.
cit.,
Chapter
XIII,
"Mines
and
Minerals,"
especially
pp.
540-55
and
558-61;
and
Pierre
Camu,
E.
P.
Weeks,
and
Z.
W.
Sametz,
Economic
Geography
of
Canada
(Tor-
onto:
Macmillan,
1964),
pp.
126-90.
To continue reading
Request your trial