Interest Groups and Development: the Case of Brazil in the Nineteenth Century
The problem of how institutions have affected economic and social development has occupied much of the attention of social scientists. An area now beginning to attract the attention of students of development is the role of interest groups.' However, little work has been done on the influence of interest groups during the nineteenth century, a period in which the developmental progress of nations now considered to be economically and socially 'mature' began to differ markedly from those still struggling to achieve such maturity.2 This paper will examine the ways in which interest groups, principally business interest groups, affected the development of Brazil during the nineteenth century. Although comparatively few in number, business interest groups were deeply involved in Brazilian development. They aided the modernization of agriculture, but also worked to preserve rural Brazil's highly stratified social structure. They promoted the introduction of modern systems of communications but did so in such a manner as to inhibit their integration on a national scale. Finally, they attempted to delay Brazilian industrialization in favor of the traditional export-import economy with its strong ties to overseas markets and suppliers. Nineteenth-century business interest groups, in sum, worked toward consolidating and preserving the state of