Contenu du sommaire

Brazil's multiple developments, Ignacy Sachs. The Centennial of the proclamation of the Brazilian Republic coincides with the double challenge of renewed growth, after a decade of slow-down and the coming out of the rut of mis development. While the country has many assets for a return to its historie growth pattern (about 6 %), the task is not easy. It implies a change of direction, from wild to civilized capitalism. The vertical development pattern — accompanied by heavy spatial concentration and a highly uneven income distribution — must be replaced by a pattern of horizontal development, more evenly balanced in both respects. But this model must not let us forget sight of the fact that in a country as big as Europe, development is necessarily variable and will differ according to regions or even micro-regions.

The conquest of Brazilian space, Hervé Théry. In one century, the organization of Brazilian space has changed decisively, mainly because of changes in the structures of political power. Traditional Brazil gave the image of a justaposition of totally isolated archipelagos controlled by a pyramid of oligarchies based on clientelistic relations. In modern Brazil, on the contrary, there is a constant process of mastery and spatial unification of the territory, closely associated with the centralization of political power.

Self-portraits of Brazil, Mario Carelli. Like all discourses on national identity, the quest for " Brazilianity ", that one can follow through the writings of the intellectuals, poets and novelists, suffers from a two-fold weakness. One weakness is due to its object : national character is more easily described than defined. The other cornes from the ephemeral and ideologically dubious dimension of the concept's références, in particular racial criteria. But that is how Brazil " Brazilianized " itelf, particularly because this perpetual reflexion on the Brazilian, is embodied in major works of fiction.

The stakes/Martin Malia in the historiography of the Soviet world, Michel Winock. This portrait of Martin Malia stresses the originality ot this scholar specialized in the study of Russian and Soviet history in the historiographie landscape of 1990. The author of Comprendre la révolution russe is neither a " Pietist " inebriated by Gorbachev nor a " revisionist ". He remains faithful to an analysis of Communist reality based on the totalitarian model, with a spirited and sharp sense of observation which do not push him towards optimism for the near future of perestroika.