O subimperialismo brasileiro e o período da ditadura: o papel do Estado na consolidação da dinâmica subimperialista

Abstract

This study analyzes the role of the Brazilian State in consolidating subimperialism during the military dictatorship (1964–1985), based on the Marxist Theory of Dependency. It assumes that the 1964 coup enabled the formation of a new power block composed of fractions of national capital, foreign capital, and the military elite, which used the State as a central instrument to establish a new pattern of capital accumulation. The study argues that the State assumed expanded roles in the economic, political, and social spheres, acting to resolve capital realization constraints and to articulate structural elements that elevated the Brazilian economy to a subimperialist stage. Among these elements are the super-exploitation of labor and structural transfers of value; the average organic composition of capital; the tripartite scheme of realization; regional hegemony; and antagonistic cooperation with imperialist powers. It is further argued that the authoritarian nature of the regime was crucial, especially in its early years, to suppress social conflicts and enable the implementation of this model, particularly through repressive measures such as Institutional Act No. 5 and the period known as the Economic Miracle. However, from the second half of the 1970s onwards, there was a gradual replacement of direct coercion by more sophisticated mechanisms of domination, contributing to the reproduction of the subimperialist pattern under conditions of increasing democratic legitimacy. Methodologically, the study adopts a historical-dialectical approach, articulating economic, political, and social dimensions to understand the role of the State and its implications for the dynamics of dependency in Brazil.