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Ideological “guerrillas” and the quest for technological autonomy: Brazil's domestic computer industry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Emanuel Adler
Emanuel Adler
Affiliation:
Lecturer in International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
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Abstract

Brazil's domestic computer industry, developed during the past decade, has excluded multinational giants such as IBM from Brazil's growing micro- and minicomputer markets. Changes in computer technology and in markets, as well as in domestic economic and political conditions, helped facilitate Brazil's progress toward technological independence. But primary support for the project came from technocratic and military elites who were determined for ideological reasons to reduce Brazil's computer dependency and to challenge the dominance of multinationals. Ideologically motivated technocrats used their positions in state bureaucracies to convince policy makers of the industry's viability and to set up institutions that would defend the autonomy model and turn a sectoral policy into a national policy. Brazil still depends on foreign software and microelectronics; however, bargaining theory correctly asserts that even dependency in sophisticated technological sectors can be partially overcome. Bargaining theories must not overlook the importance of cognitive and institutional processes, which can make the difference between taking action to reduce dependency or doing nothing.

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Articles
Information
International Organization , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , Summer 1986 , pp. 673 - 705
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1986

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References

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67. Gennari confided that the statements attributed to him regarding the market reserve were the result of selective editing by the media in order to inflame the controversy between those for and against the market reserve. SEI may also have used these remarks to frighten the domestic industry into becoming more competitive.

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80. I thank Manuel Fernando Lousada Soares (Informatics and Communication Coordinator, CNPq) for calling my attention to this process.

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