Brazil is the world's sixth-largest economy, and for the first three-quarters of the twentieth century was one of the fastest-growing countries in the world. While the country underwent two decades of unrelenting decline from 1975 to 1994, the economy has rebounded dramatically. How did this nation become an emerging power? Brazil in Transition looks at the factors behind why this particular country has successfully progressed up the economic development ladder. The authors examine the roles of beliefs, leadership, and institutions in the elusive, critical transition to sustainable development. Analyzing the last fifty years of Brazil's history, the authors explain how the nation's beliefs, centered on social inclusion yet bound by orthodox economic policies, led to institutions that altered economic, political, and social outcomes. Brazil's growth and inflation became less variable, the rule of law strengthened, politics became more open and competitive, and poverty and inequality declined. While these changes have led to a remarkable economic transformation, there have also been economic distortions and inefficiencies that the authors argue are part of the development process. Brazil in Transition demonstrates how a dynamic nation seized windows of opportunity to become a more equal, prosperous, and rules-based society.

Against the Odds is a Machiavellian study of the machinations of three senior politicians in quite different developing countries who adroitly played the tough political game in ways that reduced poverty. The three - former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, and Chief Minister Digvijay Singh in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh - had scarcely heard of one another, and never communicated. And yet they used a broadly similar repertoire of political devices - persuasion, distractions, bargaining, stealth and pressure - to pursue broadly similar goals. They demonstrated two crucial things: poverty reduction is politically feasible, even in the teeth of daunting economic and political constraints; and it is politically beneficial to those who achieve it, since it enhances their popularity, legitimacy and influence. If leaders in other developing countries who are naturally preoccupied with their own political interests recognise these things, then serious efforts to reduce poverty will become more common elsewhere. This book is, unusually, the work of three well-known political scientists from Brazil, Kenya and Britain - each of whom specialises in one of the three countries that are analysed. After extensive field research, they engaged in detailed comparative discussions that impart greater coherence to Against the Odds, especially its conclusions.