JHU SAIS Professor Riordan Roett Publishes Book on the New Brazil

Riordan Roett, director of the Western Hemisphere Studies and Latin American Studies programs at the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), has released his latest book, The New Brazil, recently published by Brookings Institution Press.

In The New Brazil, Roett tells the story of South America's largest country as it has evolved from a remote Portuguese colony into a regional leader, a respected representative for the developing world, and, increasingly, an important partner for the United States and the European Union.

For much of the 20th century, Brazil seemed mired in perpetual economic crisis. Today, prudent fiscal and monetary policies have yielded high levels of foreign direct investment and an investment-grade rating for its debt. Brazil is also emerging as an energy powerhouse, and policymakers are increasingly confronting the challenge of reducing poverty among tens of millions of people.

The New Brazil traces the long road the country has traveled to reach its present status and examines the many challenges it has overcome and those that lie ahead. Roett discusses the country's development as a colony, empire and republic; the making of modern Brazil, beginning with the rise to power of Getúlio Vargas; the advent of the military government in 1964; the return to civilian rule two decades later; and the pivotal presidencies of Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Luiz Inácio (Lula) da Silva, leading to the nation's current status in world affairs as one of the BRIC countries. As Brazil prepares to elect a new president in October, much remains to be done to consolidate and expand the country's global role.

Roett is the author or editor of 22 books. He is widely acclaimed for his contributions to Latin American studies, having received the Order of Rio Branco from the government of Brazil with the rank of Commander and the Order of Bernardo O'Higgins from the government of Chile with the rank of "Gran Official."

SAIS is one of the country's leading graduate schools devoted to the study of international relations. Located along Embassy Row in Washington's Dupont Circle area, the school enrolls approximately 600 full-time graduate students and mid-career professionals and has trained more than 15,000 alumni in all aspects of international affairs. SAIS also has campuses in Bologna, Italy, and Nanjing, China.