Brazilian Subimperialism? Empirical Evidence against Ruy Mauro Marini’s Explanatory Scheme

• DOI: 10.1177/0094582X221077697
• Author: Rodrigo Luiz Medeiros da Silva
• Published date: 01 March 2022
• Date: 01 March 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X221077697

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 243, Vol. 49 No. 2, March 2022, 56–68

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X221077697

© 2022 Latin American Perspectives

56

Brazilian Subimperialism?

Empirical Evidence against

Ruy Mauro Marini’s Explanatory Scheme

by

Rodrigo Luiz Medeiros da Silva

Translated by

Heather Hayes

With the postulate of “subimperialism,” Ruy Mauro Marini proposed that Brazilian

industrialization was structurally limited by scarcity of demand but its deceleration could

be avoided by exporting to neighboring nonindustrialized countries. This amounted to a

sort of imperialist offensive that was useful to the foreign multinationals operating in

Brazil—a “subimperialist” solution. Data on Brazil’s foreign trade and productive struc-

ture effectively contradict Marini’s perspective.

Segundo seu postulado do “subimperialismo,” Ruy Mauro Marini propôs que a

industrialização brasileira seria estruturalmente limitada por escassez de demanda mas sua

tendência a desacelerar-se teria sido evitada pela exportação a países vizinhos não industri-

alizados. Isso conformaria uma sorte de ofensiva imperialista, ainda que útil às multinacio-

nais estrangeiras instaladas no Brasil—uma saída “subimperialista.” Dados do comércio

externo e da estrutura produtiva do Brasil contradizem a proposição de Marini.

Keywords: Subimperialism, Brazil, Exports, Industry, Ruy Mauro Marini

After the peak of developmentalism, the Brazilian economy faced a sudden

slowdown between 1961 and 1967. In those years Celso Furtado warned of

“structural stagnation” for the subcontinent. The interruption of growth was to

be explained in terms of the saturation of previously existing markets for man-

ufactured goods and the widening of the foreign-exchange gap. His classic

1966 “Subdesenvolvimento e estagnação na América Latina” marked an inter-

regnum in his work. While he was in exile, import substitution stopped being

presented as a strategy that was sufficient for dealing with the lagging econ-

omy and a broader set of structural reforms aimed at diversifying foreign trade

and expanding the domestic market to reestablish an environment ripe for

industrialization ended up being prescribed.1 A few years later, however, Brazil

experienced a second wave of accelerated industrial growth, a striking and

relatively unexpected situation, especially given the performance of its Latin

Rodrigo Luiz Medeiros da Silva is an adjunct professor of international economics at the

Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana. He is involved in research on the evolu-

tion of the capitalist world-system and the impact of its rebalances on peripheral development.

Heather Hayes is a translator in Quito, Ecuador.

1077697LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X221077697Latin American PerspectivesSilva / BRAZILIAN SUBIMPERIALISM?

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