The nationalist groundswell in Brazil

摘要

Some Brazilians are having second thoughts about the consequences of opening up to the world. President Cardoso is not among them, as the sacking of a senior official this week made clear. Being a nation of immigrants, Brazilians are not naturally xenophobic. Their nationalism has traditionally been of an understated kind, rooted in economic issues and encapsulated in a widely held view that Brazil's size and potential mean not only that it need take little notice of foreigners, but that it can compete on equal terms. That it so often fails to do so breeds insecurity.