By Arnout Nuijt Writing a City Brief about Brazil’s biggest city, its economic powerhouse and home of the country’s cultural, business and political elite, is not easy. São Paulo is simply to big to grasp, as is its impact on Brazil, South America and, no doubt, the rest of the world. The economic heart of… Read More City Brief: Sao Paulo
Bolívar Lamounier is presently director of Augurium, a São Paulo based political risk consultancy. He graduated in Sociology and Political Sciences at the UFMG (1964) and holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles (1974). He was among other things member of the commission in charge of drafting Brazil’s constitution… Read More Why you shouldn’t get too excited about Brazil’s new middle class
By Arnout Nuijt Belo Horizonte, in short “Belô”, “Beagá”, or “BH” is the capital and main urban center of Brazil’s Minas Gerais State. The city has a population of around 2,5 million inhabitants, but there are approximately 5,5 million people in the Metropolitan Region. That makes BH the third most populous urban region of Brazil… Read More City Brief: Belo Horizonte
By Arnout Nuijt Brasilia is a unique city in Brazil and the world. It is the biggest of a long line of planned capital cities in the country, among which Belo Horizonte, Palmas, Boa Vista and Goiânia. Internationally the city is often compared to Canberra, Australia’s federal capital, but Brasilia is much larger and more… Read More City Brief: Brasilia
By Arnout Nuijt Rio de Janeiro may be on paper Brazil’s second urban and economic center after Sao Paulo, to many – and not just its inhabitants – the city is number one. With its 6,3 million cariocas (and no less than 12,6 million people in the metropolitan area), Rio is the capital of the… Read More City Brief: Rio de Janeiro
By Arnout Nuijt On the last day of the previous year an interesting bit of news floated around in the Low Countries, but it may have been lost in the loud bangs of the New Year’s Eve celebrations. According to Luc Willems, deputy secretary-general of the Benelux Union, the Benelux would like to see a… Read More What should we do with the Benelux?
By Arnout Nuijt A recent article in The Economist gives an optimistic picture of Brazilian companies heading en masse for Africa’s booming economies, “laden with expertise and capital”, thus creating a new “Atlantic alliance” between Brazil and Africa. We hate to be critical, but is this really happening or is it wishful thinking? Yes, Africa… Read More Can Brazil Conquer Africa’s Booming Markets?
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