Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira
Século XXI, Brasília, 2 maio 1999: 46-52. Também publicado em Idéias e Debates, 24, do Instituto Teotônio Vilela, 1999.
Abstract. The concepts of left and right remain central in understanding modern politics. To be left means to be ready to risk social order in behalf of social justice. In order to fulfill this objective the left (as well as the right) changed. Today it is possible to distinguish a new from an old left. The new left is social-liberal. It remains committed to social justice, and ready to support the social movements oriented in such direction; it recognizes market failures, particularly in terms of income distribution, and defends a strong and active state, but also believes that markets are supposed to play a major role in allocating resources. Meanwhile the old left continues to confuse the interests of the poor, which they are supposed to protect, from the interests of the bureaucrats - from whose ranks most of the left is originated.
