The Fragile Tropics of Latin America: Sustainable Management of Changing Environments (UNU, 1995): Part 2 : The Brazilian Amazon: A fragile capitalism in a fragile environment: entrepreneurs and state bureaucracies in the free zone of Manaus: 4 Entrepreneurs and bureaucrats

The Fragile Tropics of Latin America: Sustainable Management of Changing Environments (UNU, 1995)

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part 1 : The ecological outlook

Ecological prospective for tropical Latin America

(introductory text...)

1 Introduction

2 The current condition of the tropical Latin American ecosystems

3 Modelling ecological changes

4 The reference scenario

5 The sustainable scenario

6 Conclusions

Acknowledgements

Notes

References

Rich and poor ecosystems of Amazonia: an approach to management

(introductory text...)

1 Introduction

2 Characterization of the oligotrophic environment

3 Characterization of eutrophic forests

4 Management of oligotrophic areas

5 Management of eutrophic areas

6 Conclusions

Acknowledgements

References

Archaeological perspectives on the potential of Amazonia for intensive exploitation

(introductory text...)

1 Introduction

2 Evolutionary principles

3 Past and present settlement behaviour

4 Relations between várzea, and terra firme groups

5 The impact of climatic fluctuation

6 Overcoming environmental constraints

7 Conclusion

Acknowledgements

References

Distribution and interannual variability of rainfall in Brazil

(introductory text...)

1 Introduction

2 Data source and distribution of rainfall in South America

3 Interannual variability of rainfall in brazil

4 Relationship to southern oscillation Index

5 Seasonal variability of rainfall in Brazil

6 Comparison of the rainfall in northern Brazil to other tropical regions

7 Conclusion

Acknowledgement

References

Part 2 : The Brazilian Amazon

Waters and wetlands of Brazilian Amazonia: an uncertain future

(introductory text...)

Sweet sea

The Amazon river system

Human use of Amazonian aquatic and wetland ecosystems

The future, a cascade of uncertainties

A broader picture: environmental perspectives in Brazil

Conclusions

Acknowledgements

Notes

References

A fragile capitalism in a fragile environment: entrepreneurs and state bureaucracies in the free zone of Manaus

(introductory text...)

1 Introduction

2 Methodological remarks

3 A theoretical excursus

4 Entrepreneurs and bureaucrats

5 Findings

Notes

References

Part 3 : The Peruvian Amazon

Aquatic and land fauna management among the floodplain ribereños of the Peruvian Amazon

(introductory text...)

1 Introduction

2 The ribereños of San Jorge

3 The Amazon floodplain in north-east Peru

4 Ribereño hunting

5 Fishing

6 Distribution and consumption

7 Changes in fisheries

8 Conclusion

Acknowledgements

References

Subsistence- and market-oriented agroforestry in the Peruvian Amazon

(introductory text...)

1 Introduction

2 Traditional agroforestry in north-eastern Peru

3 Swidden-fallow agroforestry among the Bora indians

4 Market-oriented agroforestry in Tamshiyacu

5 Conclusions and recommendations

References

Local management of forest resources in a rural community in north-east Peru

(introductory text...)

1 Introduction

2 Study area and objectives

3 Population dynamics

4 Distribution and use of terra firme lands in the community

5 Traditional use of forest resources

6 Prospects for sustainable management

Acknowledgements

References

Part 4 : The semi-arid north-east

White sand soils in north-east Brazil

(introductory text...)

1 Introduction

2 Site characteristics

3 Distribution of the white sand soils in the Paraíba-Pernambuco area

4 White sand on the Conde upland, Paraíba

5 Origin of upland white sand

6 The effect of deforestation

References

Changing aspects of drought-deciduous vegetation in the semiarid region of north-east Brazil

(introductory text...)

1 Introduction

2 Study sites and methods

3 Results

4 Discussion and conclusion

References

Characteristics and utilization of tree species in the semi-arid woodland of north-east Brazil

(introductory text...)

1 Introduction

2 Bioclimatic divisions of north-east Brazil and the floristic composition of the caatinga stand

3 Response and stress tolerance of caatinga trees to various water conditions

4 Utilization of the caatinga trees

5 Deforestation associated with increased firewood consumption and charcoal production

6 Conclusions and a proposal

Acknowledgements

Appendix

References

Drought, irrigation, and changes in the sertão of north-east Brazil

(introductory text...)

1 Introduction

2 Reservoir irrigation in Paraíba

3 Middle São Francisco valley

4 Consequences of irrigation agriculture

Acknowledgement

References

4 Entrepreneurs and bureaucrats

I have already alluded to the utmost importance of the role of the state bureaucracies in the Manaus Free Trade Zone, meaning the Brazilian federal state bureaucracies - basically Suframa and subsidiaries - and not (unless otherwise stated) the bureaucracies of the State of Amazonas. As is well known, in situations of retarded economic development the state and its bureaucracies tend to assume some of the functions that otherwise devolve upon private enterprise. And the economic role of the state is all the more important in Brazil due to the omnipresence, throughout the whole history of both Brazil and its motherland, Portugal, of what Brazilian sociologist Raymundo Faoro has termed the "bureaucratic estate" (estamento burocrático), which commands

... both the civil and the military branches of the public administration, seizing and leading the economic, financial, and political spheres. In the economic field, going well beyond the regulative function accorded to it by the ideology of liberalism, surpassing even the system of regulated concessions, the bureaucratic estate assumes the direct management of enterprises. Acting directly upon the economy or using incentives are but alternative means to reach the same goals. (Faoro, 1979: 738-9)

Indeed, the Free Trade Zone of Manaus can be described as a condominium of private entrepreneurs and state bureaucrats, each side receiving, in a direct or an indirect wad,¹¹ a share of the profit generated by the industrial and commercial activities of the economic enclave. This is why I suggest that the concept of Oriental, or hydraulic, despotism, as formulated by Karl Wittfogel (1957, 1968), be adopted for the understanding of some of the basic features of the Zona Franca. I use the concept in a very broad sense, as Wittfogel himself understood it. Thus he considered the Inca empire, located on the Andean plateau, as "a purely Oriental society".¹² Conversely, many societies which are located in the Orient from a purely geographic point of view have nothing in common with despotism as understood by Wittfogel.

Although the historical prototypes of Oriental despotism are derived from the hydraulic societies of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, and others, its main characteristic consists less of the presence of public works on a grandiose, pharaonic scale, not missing in Brazil as a whole or in Brazilian Amazonia, than of the role of the large state bureaucracies. Although these do not own the means of economic production, they nevertheless exert, or share, control over the basic economic activities of the society. Either through the management of some essential resource (such as water) or through regulations, incentives, restrictions, and the like, state bureaucracies are able to appropriate a significant part of the wealth - or of the "surplus value," if one prefers this expression - generated in the same society. In point of fact, the concept of "Oriental despotism" might well be used for the understanding not only of the Free Zone of Manaus with its controlling bureaucracies at Suframa and Fucapi, but also the North-East of Brazil (where state bureaucrats have as one of their basic tasks the management of hydric resources in the strict sense), and even Brazilian society as a whole.

The preceding considerations can be summed up in the two following hypotheses:

1. The hypothesis of a "pariah capitalism," that is, the expectation that entrepreneurial activity in the Manaus Free Trade Zone has a largely speculative character, taking advantage of the system of tax incentives offered by the government and being associated with ethnic and religious groups who tend to play a peripheral role in the general context of world trade (East Indians of certain castes and certain regional origins, SouthEast Asians, Middle Eastern Jews and Arabs, etc.). This would seem to constitute a typical case of what Max Weber called speculative capitalism, turned, as he said, toward "irrational and political opportunities of gaining a profit" and opposed to "the rational organization of the enterprise oriented toward a real market" (Raphael, 1982; Weber, 1988);

2. The hypothesis of the "hydraulic," or bureaucratic, despotism, that is, the expectation that there exists, in the Free Trade Zone of Manaus, an elite of state bureaucrats which is more than merely functional to the task of planning, regulating, and managing the economic activity of the enclave. In a direct or indirect way, this bureaucratic elite is able to appropriate part of the profit generated by commerce and industry in the area.

Whereas these were my two major research interests in Manaus, I did not disregard a few other relevant topics. Thus, entrepreneurship appeared to have not only a "speculative" rather than, in the Weberian sense of the word, a "rational" character, but it also tended to be represented in the area by the local managers of firms with headquarters elsewhere in Brazil, or abroad, and therefore wielding a rather limited power to take major decisions. Sheer speculative entrepreneurship appeared to be more typical of the enclave's commercial sector and merely managing, surrogate entrepreneurs were mainly found in the industrial sector. Yet these two categories are by no means mutually exclusive.

I was also very much interested in the mechanisms and subtleties of the formal and informal decision-making process in the Free Trade Zone concerning, first and foremost, the allocation of import quotas to both trading and manufacturing enterprises. This power seems to be essentially vested in the person of the Superintendent and his immediate assistants. Indeed, since the establishment in 1976 of a ceiling of importations into the enclave, this official has acquired an almost imperial importance. Nevertheless, as the "hydraulic despotism" in the Zone is, after all, tempered by an abundant legislation that emanates from the central Brazilian government (and even to a certain extent from the government of the state of Amazonas) and the procedural labyrinth that derives from it, one can easily understand that the office of the Superintendent is subject to the influence of persons and groups capable of making good use of laws, regulations, and subterfuges of several kinds.

I never forgot the biggest query of all. Who, in the end, profits from the Free Trade Zone? What persons, groups, strata, social classes are actually the beneficiaries of the incentive system of Manaus? A definitive answer to this all-important question far surpasses the scope of my research. But the data I could gather do provide me with the elements of what is perhaps more than a mere tentative answer to that big riddle. I will return to it.