Perspectivas de desenvolvimento da Amazônia: motivos para o otimismo e para o pessimismo

The recent development of Brazilian Amazon embraces two different periods. The first one relates to the authoritarian regime under which several development strategies were implemented as to maximise immediate economic advantages; these strategies created adverse social and environmental impacts. The following period differs from the former insofar as Brazilian government, particularly in the 1990s, recognized the negative impacts generated by past development strategies and stressed that future undertakings in Amazonia should conciliate productive use and environmental conservation. However, these efforts collide with the ?Axes of Development? strategy, whose objectives for Amazonia are to integrate it with the rest of the country, providing it access to the world market. In this scenery, the traditional Veblenian dichotomy doesn´t exactly fit, although certainly progressive and ceremonial attitudes can be recognized. This paper analyzes these current conflicts and the contradictory roles played by different actors in accordance with the original institutionalist thought.