Fernando Henrique Cardoso (; born 18 June 1931), also known by his initials FHC (), is a Brazilian sociologist, professor, and politician who served as the 34th president of Brazil from 1 January 1995 to 1 January 2003. He was the first Brazilian president to be reelected for a subsequent term. An accomplished scholar of dependency theory noted for his research on slavery and political theory, Cardoso has earned many honors including the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation (2000) and the Kluge Prize from the US

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(2012). Cardoso was inaugurated as president on January 1, 1995. He continued the economic reforms that had been initiated by the previous administration,

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rates remained low, several state-owned companies were privatized, and market liberalization increased the country's visibility in the international market. The government succeeded in passing economic and administrative laws, including one that allowed for the reelection of executive officeholders. In 1998, he won the presidential election in the first round, becoming the first president to be reelected at the time. During his second term, international crises, a significant devaluation of the Real, the energy crisis, and other events led to a significant drop in his popularity. Currently, he heads the Fernando Henrique Cardoso Foundation, which he founded in 2004, and serves on various advisory boards for different organizations abroad, such as the Clinton Global Initiative,

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, and the

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Foundation. He is also a member of '' The Elders'', the Brazilian Academy of Letters, and the honorary president of the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party). Cardoso was also the 10th president of the International Sociological Association (1982–1986).

Personal and professional life

Cardoso descends from wealthy Portuguese immigrants. Some were politicians during the

Empire of Brazil The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and Uruguay until the latter achieved independence in 1828. The empire's government was a Representative democracy, representative Par ...

. He also has African ancestry, through a black great-great-grandmother and a

mulatto ( , ) is a Race (human categorization), racial classification that refers to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African, African and Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the ...

great-grandmother. Cardoso described himself as "slightly mulatto" and allegedly said he has "a foot in the kitchen" (a nod to historical Brazilian domestic slavery). Born in Rio de Janeiro, he lived in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

for most of his life. Cardoso is a widower who was married to Ruth Vilaça Correia Leite Cardoso, an anthropologist, from 1953 until her death on 24 June 2008; they had three children. Educated as a sociologist, he was a professor of political science and sociology at the Universidade de São Paulo. and president of the International Sociological Association (ISA), from 1982 to 1986. He is a member of the

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(Princeton), an honorary foreign member of the

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and has written several books. Cardoso was also associate director of Studies in the in Paris, then visiting professor at the and later Paris Nanterre University. He later gave lectures at British and US universities including

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and the

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. He is fluent in Portuguese, English, French, and Spanish, and can express himself in Italian and German. After his presidency, he was appointed to a five-year term (2003–2008) as professor-at-large at

's Watson Institute for International Studies, where he is now on the board of overseers. Cardoso is a founding member of the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy's advisory board. In February 2005, he gave the fourth annual Kissinger Lecture on Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Library of Congress, Washington DC on ''"Dependency and Development in Latin America''. In 2005, Cardoso was selected by the British magazine '' Prospect'' as being one of the world's top one hundred living public intellectuals.Archived a
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Academic career

Cardoso earned a bachelor's degree in

Social Sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

from Universidade de São Paulo in 1952, from where he also earned a Master's and a Doctorate in Sociology. His doctoral thesis, under the supervision of Florestan Fernandes, examined the institution of slavery in Southern Brazil, critiquing, from a Marxist perspective, the dominant approach of

Gilberto Freyre Gilberto de Mello Freyre (March 15, 1900 – July 18, 1987) was a Brazilian sociologist, anthropologist, historian, writer, painter, journalist and congressman born in Recife. Considered one of the most important sociologists of the 20th cen ...

to the topic. It has since become a classic on the subject. Cardoso also received the Livre-Docência degree in 1963, the most senior level of academic recognition in Brazil, also from Universidade de São Paulo. In 1968, he received the title of Cathedratic Professor, holding the chair of Political Science at Universidade de São Paulo. As he continued his academic career abroad in Chile and France after the tightening of the Brazilian military dictatorship, Cardoso published several books and papers on state bureaucracy, industrial elites and, particularly, dependency theory. His work on dependency would be his most acclaimed contribution to sociology and development studies, especially in the United States. After presiding the International Sociological Association from 1982 to 1986 Cardoso was selected as a Fulbright Program 40th anniversary distinguished fellow and in that capacity was a visiting scholar and lectured at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

on democracy in Brazil. Cardoso currently gives speeches and classes abroad. In June 2013 he was elected as a member of Academia Brasileira de Letras. He said his election was due to recognition for his academic achievements, rather than his political career.

Elections

After his return to Brazil, Fernando Henrique engaged with the burgeoning democratic opposition to the military-dominated regime both as an intellectual and as a political activist. He became

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

from

for the former Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB) in 1982, replacing Franco Montoro, the newly elected governor of São Paulo. In 1985, he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of São Paulo against former President Jânio Quadros. Ahead in the polls, he let himself be photographed in the mayor's chair before the elections. Some attribute his loss to this episode. Elected to the Senate in 1986 for the Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB), which MDB became after re-democratization, he joined a group of PMDB parliamentarians who left that party to found the Brazilian Social Democratic Party ( PSDB) after previously held PMDB positions shifted to the right when the party filled with politicians who had collaborated with the dictatorship. As a senator, Cardoso took part in the 1987–1988 National Constituent Assembly that drafted and approved Brazil's current Constitution in the wake of the country's re-democratization. In the early stages of the Constituent Assembly's work (from February to March 1987), Cardoso led the committee that drafted the internal rules of procedure, including the procedural rules governing the drafting of the Constitution itself. These rules of procedure were adopted by the Assembly and published on 25 March 1987. Until 1992, Cardoso served as Leader of the PSDB in the Senate. From October 1992 to May 1993, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under President Itamar Franco (PMDB). From May 1993 to April 1994, he was Minister of Finance and resigned in April 1994 to launch a presidential campaign. In the 3 October election, he won the presidency in the first round of voting with 54% of the vote, more than twice that of his nearest opponent,

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known Mononym, mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist and former metalworker who has served as the 39th president of Brazil since 2023. A mem ...

. This is still the largest margin of victory ever recorded in a free election in Brazilian history. After the constitution was amended to allow a president to succeed himself, he won a second term almost as easily in 1998, taking 53% to Lula's 31.7% to win in a single round. To date, he is the only president to win an outright majority of the popular vote, and the only one to win the presidency in a single round since the institution of the two-round system in 1989. Cardoso was succeeded in 2003 by Lula da Silva, who ran for the fourth time and had come in second on prior attempts. Lula won in the runoff election against the Cardoso-supported candidate, José Serra. Lula's election has been interpreted as resulting from Cardoso's low approval ratings in his second term.

Presidency (1995–2003)

Cardoso, often nicknamed "FHC", was elected with the support of a heterodox alliance of his own Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) and two right-wing parties, the Liberal Front Party (PFL) and the Brazilian Labour Party (PTB). Brazil's largest party, the centrist Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB), joined Cardoso's governing coalition after the election, as did the right-wing Brazilian Progressive Party (PPB) in 1996. Party loyalty was not always strong, and coalition members did not always vote with the government. Cardoso had difficulty at times gaining support for some of his legislative priorities, even though his coalition held an overwhelming majority of the congressional seats. Nevertheless, many constitutional amendments were passed during his presidency. Cardoso's presidency saw institutional advancements in human rights, beginning with a national secretariat and a new government program, discussed with civil society, to address the issue. On 8 January 1996, he issued the controversial Decree 1775, which created a framework for the clear demarcation of indigenous territories, but which, as part of the process, opened indigenous territories to counterclaims by adjacent landowners. In 2000, Cardoso demanded the disclosure of some classified military files concerning Operation Condor, a network of South American military dictatorships that kidnapped and assassinated political opponents. FHC was the first Brazilian President to address the inequality and the enormous gap between rich and poor. He started the following programs: Bolsa Escola, the Auxílio Gás, the Bolsa Alimentação, and the Cartão Alimentação. His wife, Ruth Cardoso, focused on unifying transfer programs aimed at helping people suffering from poverty and hunger., by means of a program based on the idea that educating the poor could help raise them out of poverty. Cardoso's administration deepened the privatization program launched by president Fernando Collor de Mello. During his first term, several government-owned enterprises in areas such as steel milling, telecommunications and mining, such as '' Telebras'' and '' Companhia Vale do Rio Doce'' were sold to the private sector, the deepest denationalisation in Brazilian history, amidst a polarized political debate between "neoliberals" and "developmentalists". Ironically, this time Cardoso was against the latter group, generating uproar among former academic colleagues and political allies who accused him of reneging on his previous intellectual work. Economists still contend over its long-term effects; some research suggests that companies sold by the government achieved better profitability as a result of their disengagement from the state. Despite the sale of public assets, the years 1995 to 2002 saw a rise of the total public debt from 30% to 55.5% of GDP. Economists aligned with his government argued that this was due to external factors outside the control of the administration at the time, such as the devaluation of the Brazilian real and the growth of the share of the debt denominated in US dollars. Nevertheless, devaluation of the currency was an instrument of

monetary policy Monetary policy is the policy adopted by the monetary authority of a nation to affect monetary and other financial conditions to accomplish broader objectives like high employment and price stability (normally interpreted as a low and stable rat ...

used right after his reelection, when the real pegged to the dollar led to a financial crisis that saw the country lose much of its foreign reserve fund and raise its interest rates on government bonds to very high levels as he tried to stabilize the currency under a new free-floating regime. With this economic shift, the greatest achievement of Cardoso – his landmark lowering of inflation – was maintained, but his popularity plummeted. Given his previous experience as Minister of Foreign Affairs and his prestige as an internationally famous sociologist, he was respected on the world scene, building friendships with such leaders as

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

and Ernesto Zedillo. Although he was respected abroad, in Brazil he had problems gaining support in Congress for government priorities and among people in general. As a result, major reforms planned by the executive branch, such as changes in the tax system and to

social security Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...

, were only partially approved and only after long discussion. Although claiming to still support

social democracy Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

, his economic policies led people on the left to identify him with neoliberalism and

right-wing politics Right-wing politics is the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position b ...

, terms that often carry a very negative connotation in Latin American political debate and academic circles. Viagens presidenciais de Fernando Henrique Cardoso

Viagens presidenciais de Fernando Henrique Cardoso

He also experienced personal problems with former ally Itamar Franco, his predecessor who later became Governor of

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, a fierce opponent of his administrative reforms that saw the state lose its capacity to contract debt and forced a reduction of local government spending. Cardoso was also criticized for amending the constitution to his own benefit, allowing him to stay eight years in office. His popularity in his first four years, gained with the success of Plano Real, decreased during his last four years as the currency crisis was followed by lower economic growth and employment rates, greater public debt, growing political dissent, low levels of investment in appropriate infrastructure, and, finally, an energy crisis caused by an unexpected drought, as over 80% of Brazil's electricity is hydroelectric. He publicly admitted that he could have done more for public security and for the creation of new jobs, but defended his policies in areas such as health and education. Cardoso's administration was accused of bribing congressmen to pass a constitutional amendment that secured FHC the right to seek reelection, which he eventually won.

Post-presidency

After stepping down from office, he assumed a position as a senior leader of his party and leading public voice in the opposition to the incumbent Workers' Party, writing extensively on Brazilian politics for newspapers and giving lectures and interviews. Nevertheless, his relatively low popularity rates among the general population have made his legacy a mixed blessing to his political allies, who are somewhat reluctant to embrace it wholeheartedly during elections, especially on topics regarding privatization and social policy. In 2006, he helped the campaign of the PSDB candidate for the Presidency, Geraldo Alckmin, and has reiterated that he does not wish to run for office again. In the 2022 presidential election, Cardoso endorsed his former Workers' Party rival Lula over then-incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. FHC 15 anos real

Posse de Fernando Henrique Cardoso na Academia Brasileira de Letras

He dedicates his time to a personal institute which he founded in

, based on the model of bodies created by former presidents of the United States, has written two books about his experience as president of Brazil and advocates for relaxation of criminal laws relating to drugs, generating both criticism and praise. He lectures at

about Brazilian economic policy, urban development, and

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

and has taught as a guest lecturer at Sciences Po in Paris. Also, in 2007 he became a member of the editorial board of the Latin American policy publication '' Americas Quarterly'', for which he is an occasional contributor. Since leaving the Brazilian presidency, Cardoso has been involved in a number of international organisations and initiatives. He is a member of the Club of Madrid and was its president from 2003 to 2006. He has been a member of the Fondation Chirac's honour committee, ever since the Foundation was launched in 2008 by former French president Jacques Chirac to promote world peace. Cardoso is a founding member of Washington D.C.–based think tank The Inter-American Dialogue as well as former chair of the organization's board. He is also a former director of World Resources Institute. Cardoso has a particular interest in drug policy. He served on the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy and later chaired the Global Commission on Drug Policy. He appeared as an interviewee in 2011 documentary Breaking the Taboo, which explores the conclusion reached by the Global Commission on Drug Policy in 2011 that drug liberalization is the best approach in dealing with drug policy. Cardoso is also a member of The Elders, a group of independent global leaders who work together on peace and human rights issues. In August 2009, he travelled to Israel and the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

as the head of an Elders delegation that also included Ela Bhatt, Gro Harlem Brundtland,

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

, Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu. In 2013 he became a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters. In 2017, Cardoso received the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award from the Inter-American Dialogue.

Electoral history

Honours

Foreign honours

* : Collar of the Order of the Liberator General San Martín * : Collar of the Order of the Condor of the Andes * : Collar of the Order of Merit (Chile) * : Collar of the Order of Boyacá * : Gran Cross of the Order of Juan Mora Fernández * : Knight of the

Order of the Elephant The Order of the Elephant () is a Denmark, Danish order of chivalry and is Denmark's highest-ranked honour. It has origins in the 15th century, but has officially existed since 1693, and since the establishment of constitutional monarchy in ...

* : Collar of the National Order of Merit (Ecuador) * : Gran Cross with Collar of the Order of the White Rose of Finland * : ** Gran Cross of the

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** Officier of the Ordre des Palmes académiques * : Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany * : Grand Cross with Chain of the Hungarian Order of Merit * : Collar of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic () is the most senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of Italy, President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking honour of the Republi ...

(1995) * : Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum * : Collar of the Order of King Abdulaziz * : Honorary Recipient of the Order of the Crown of the Realm (1995) * : Collar of the Order of the Aztec Eagle * : Gran Cross of the Order of Manuel Amador Guerrero * : Gran Cross of the National Order of Merit (Paraguay) * : ** Grand Cross with diamonds of the Order of the Sun of Peru ** Gran Cross of the National Order of Merit * : ** Collar of the

Order of Prince Henry The Order of Prince Henry () is a Portuguese order of knighthood created on 2 June 1960, to commemorate the quincentenary of the death of the Portuguese ''infante'' Prince Henry the Navigator, one of the main initiators of the Age of Discovery. M ...

(2000) ** Collar of the Order of Liberty (1995) ** Grand Cross of the Order of Merit (1987) ** Collar of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword (1997) ** Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword (2002) * : ** Order of the White Eagle (2002) **Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (1995) * : Order of the Star of Romania * : Gran Cross of the Order of Good Hope * : Grand Order of Mugunghwa * : Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (1998) * : Grand Cross (or 1st Class) of the Order of the White Double Cross (2001) * : Grand Cross of the Honorary Order of the Yellow Star * : First Class of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise * : Medal of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay (1995) * : Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

(1997) * : Kluge Prize, 2012 * : ** Collar of the Order of the Liberator ** Gran Cross of the Order of Francisco de Miranda

Honorary doctorate

* 1978 Honorary Doctor of Laws,

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

* 2001 Honorary Doctor of Law,

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

(awarded in São Paulo on 11/18) * 2002 Honorary Doctor of Science, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra * 2012 Honorary Doctor of Sociology, ISCTE-IUL, Portugal * 2016 Honorary Doctor of Laws,

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

(awarded in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on 26 May 2016). * 2021 Honorary Doctor of Science, University of Bath

Selected works

* Cardoso, Fernando Henrique (2006) ''The Accidental President of Brazil'', PublicAffairs, * Cardoso, Fernando Henrique (2001) ''Charting a New Course: The Politics of Globalization and Social Transformation'', Rowman & Littlefield, * Goertzel, Ted G. (1999) ''Fernando Henrique Cardoso: Reinventing Democracy in Brazil'', Boulder: Lynne Rienner. * Cardoso, Fernando Henrique and Faletto, Enzo (1979) "Dependency and Development in Latin America", University of California Press,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cardoso, Fernando Henrique 1931 births Living people 20th-century Brazilian politicians 21st-century Brazilian politicians Academic staff of the University of São Paulo Brazilian columnists Brazilian Democratic Movement politicians Brazilian people of Portuguese descent Brazilian Social Democracy Party politicians Brazilian sociologists Brown University faculty Club of Rome members Collars of the Order of Isabella the Catholic Academic staff of the Collège de France Columbia University faculty Dependency theorists Ministers of finance of Brazil Ministers of foreign affairs of Brazil Grand Cordons of the Honorary Order of the Yellow Star Grand Collars of the Order of Liberty Grand Collars of the Order of Prince Henry Grand Collars of the Order of Saint James of the Sword Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour Grand Crosses Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Members of the Inter-American Dialogue Members of the Federal Senate (Brazil) 20th-century presidents of Brazil Recipients of the Great Cross of the National Order of Scientific Merit (Brazil) Recipients of the Medal of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay Recipients of the Order of the Star of Romania Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland) University of São Paulo alumni World system scholars Writers from Rio de Janeiro (city) Presidents of the International Sociological Association Recipients of the Grand Cross of the Order of Ipiranga The Elders (organization)