Celso Furtado

Abstract

"This issue of In Focus pays tribute to a remarkable intellectual from the South, who despaired about the dismal social consequences of a certain development trajectory and tried to chart an alternative path premised on a more active role for the state and public policy. The outstanding selection of writings is a testimony to Furtado’s own stature. Included here are articles by former President of Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso, UN Under-Secretary General José Antonio Ocampo, Vice Chancellor Deepak Nayyar of Delhi University, Professor Emeritus Paul Streeten of Boston University, sociologist Peter Evans of Berkeley, and economist Ricardo Ffrench-Davis of CEPAL. It is hoped that their ideas, some of which revisit Celso’s own, will help rekindle the debate that he so ably posed against the present background of unfettered globalization, market fundamentalism and minimalist states." By Hans Singer (...)