ALCOHOL AS FUEL IN BRAZIL: AN ALTERNATIVE ENERGY POLICY AND POLITICS. (VOLUMES I AND II) (INTEREST REPRESENTATION, DECISION-MAKING PROCESS, BUREAUCRATIC - AUTHORITARIANISM, LATIN AMERICA)

Brazil is the only country in the world which has severed the bond between the automobile industry and petroleum. Today the share of alcohol in gasohol corresponds to more than 20%. Pure alcohol-powered cars represent more than 90% of total passenger car sales.; This thesis studied the decision-making process of fuel alcohol policies in Brazil from the 1930's. Variables examined included the basic parameters of decision (world oil and sugar markets and their impact on Brazil's energy and economic policies) and the interests and motivations of the principal actors (public and private). The bargaining politics frame of analysis and the inductive approach were used to empirically reconstruct the characteristics of fuel alcohol policy-making.; The analysis was divided into two periods: (i) from the 1930s to the mid 1970s when fuel alcohol was "tolerated" while it was not prejudicial to petroleum policy; (ii) from 1975 onwards when the first oil shock stimulated the creation of the National Alcohol Program (Proalcool).; The analysis of Proalcool revealed a highly decentralized and fragmented decision-making structure. Decision-making occurs entirely within the state apparatus. Informal contacts are the typical mode of interest representation and corporatist links between private and public domains are notoriously absent. These findings are unexpected in the context of the bureaucratic-authoritarianism which characterizes post-1964 Brazil.; Proalcool benefits the consumers of alcohol-fueled automobiles (middle and upper classes) and the "large capital," especially the sugar and alcohol producers. Small sugar-cane suppliers and rural workers are excluded from policy-making and effects upon these groups are yet to be fully assessed. Alcohol now serves as a safety valve for the sugar-cane industry, formerly troubled by overproduction. The contribution of fuel alcohol to reduce the country's dependence on imported energy and to alleviate the balance of payments is far more modest.; The reader may decide for himself or herself whether Proalcool is a success.