ABSTRACT
The 1980s burgeoning of democracy saw Brazil embark upon and consolidate the longest period of stable democratic government in its history, one involving a massive expansion of participation to an electorate reaching 110 million by the end of the century. Political development surged ahead in the region's largest country during the 1980s and 1990s, in a near straight line and at an almost breakneck pace. Surging inflation at the end of 1985 and beginning of 1986 convinced Sarney to approve an economic program put together by finance minister Dilson Funaro (b. 1933) and a team of young, self-confident technocrats. As president, Cardoso had ex-president Sarney and Liberal Front Party (PFL) leader Antonio Carlos Magalhaes as major allies as they rotated in the senate presidency. Compared to Brazil, as well as a good number of other Latin American countries, Mexico's political development for most of the 1980s and 1990s seemed limited, and in the eyes of many observers, inadequate.
