Word: lula
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...colleagues,” he said. Harvard Law School has a number of connections with Brazil including an exchange program with the Brazilian University, Fundacao Getuilio Vargos. Well-known, Harvard Law professor, Roberto M. Unger also took leave in June 2007 to advise Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula de Silva...
That may be a dream too far for the bearded, gravelly voiced President, but Lula's self-confidence is understandable: he has pulled off other unlikely feats. When he was first elected in 2002, many feared that Lula and his leftist Workers' Party would trash Brazil's emerging economy by pursuing socialist policies. Instead, Lula shrewdly embraced fiscal sobriety, strengthening Brazil's currency, the real, and reforming a bloated civil service pension system. Those policies and a windfall in commodities fueled a boom--the economy will grow 5% or more again this year, and inflation is historically low. Even...
Just as important, Lula has steered Brazil between the Scylla and Charybdis of the right-wing Bush Administration and left-wing Venezuelan President Hugo Chvez, whose clashes have rocked Latin America. In Washington, Lula is seen as an important ally. "Our relationship is solid--there are lots of points of convergence," says Christopher McMullen, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. But while Lula bonds with Bush over biofuels--Brazil is a global pioneer in that area--he's also huddling with Chvez over plans to turn South America into an integrated economic bloc along...
...Lula's biggest challenge, though, has been bridging the huge chasm between Brazil's rich and poor--a gap that makes the country look more like the feudal monarchy it was in the 19th century than the modern democracy it wants to be in the 21st. Lula, who as an impoverished kid shined shoes on the streets of So Paulo, has pumped more than $100 billion into social projects ranging from microfinance to grants for families who keep their kids in school. As a result, 52% of Brazil's 190 million people are now designated as middle class...
...successes, though, some of Brazil's oldest maladies have proved stubbornly resistant to Lula's ministrations. Official corruption remains rampant; Lula blames a fetid political culture "that has been there for centuries," but that's an old excuse. One of his election promises was to clean up Brazilian politics, and with two years to go--rules forbid him to seek a third consecutive term--he'll have to start wielding the broom vigorously. The education system, despite increased funding and access, is still an embarrassment: Brazilian students continue to score at the bottom on international math and reading tests. Taxes...