Samba superpower

Brazil on the Rise: The Story of a Country Transformed

Brazil certainly has key advantages over the other so-called ‘BRICs’ — the fast-paced middle-income countries which, some say, will rival America, Europe and Japan in economic terms by the middle of this century.

India is distracted by its hostile nuclear neighbours and blighted by domestic terrorism and various insurgencies. China is a dictatorship where human rights and fundamental freedoms are unfamiliar concepts. Russia’s economy is almost entirely dependent on oil, gas and arms exports; foreign investments are far from secure.