Search - List of Books by Roberto Mangabeira Unger
Roberto Mangabeira Unger (b. 1947, Rio de Janeiro) is a Brazilian contemporary social theorist, politician, and law professor at Harvard Law School.
He is the Harvard Law School's only South American faculty member. He was associated with the Critical Legal Studies movement for a brief period in the late 1970s and early 1980s, although Unger has set forth his own criticisms of some of the central ideas that emerged out of this movement, in particular the indeterminacy debate in legal theory, which Unger calls the "radicalization of indeterminacy" in his own writings. He also taught Barack Obama while in Harvard.
Unger has long been active in Brazilian and South American politics, as a candidate, political activist, and as an advisor to world leaders. From 2007 to 2009, he took leave from his position at Harvard to serve in the Brazilian government as Minister of Strategic Affairs.
Unger was born in Rio de Janeiro. He was the son of a Brazilian mother, Edyla Mangabeira, and a German-American father, Artur Unger, who was a lawyer and businessman. His maternal grandfather, Octávio Mangabeira, was a Brazilian politician.
Early in his life, Unger's family moved to the United States, where he lived until age 11, when his father died. He and his mother moved back to Brazil, where Unger attended university, returning to the United States in 1969 for graduate study at Harvard. In 1970 he joined the Harvard Law faculty, and became, in 1976, one of the youngest ever faculty members to receive tenure from the school. In that same year, Unger won a Guggenheim Fellowship. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004.
In June 2007, Unger became a government minister during Luis Inácio Lula da Silva's second term, as head of the newly established Long-term Planning Secretariat, part of the executive office of the president.The appointment raised some controversy as in November 2005, Unger described Lula's government as "the most corrupt of Brazil's history" and called for his impeachment. As part of his newly-created ministry, Unger will also be responsible for the Institute of Applied Economic Research, or IPEA, a government think tank previously attached to the Planning Ministry. Unger's nomination was reported to cause fear within the IPEA that he would politicize the institution, which has traditionally been seen as apolitical and independent. The Estado de São Paulo newspaper ran an editorial on May 4, 2007, warning of the potential politicization of the IPEA under Unger. On September 7, 2007, the Folha de S. Paulo, Brazil's largest newspaper, reported that Unger would disband a long-standing IPEA workgroup, dubbed the Grupo de Conjuntura (English: Conjuncture Group), which had existed for the past 30 years. Still according to Folha, the group had previously sparred with the Finance Minister Guido Mantega, who thought the group was composed of sympathizers of the opposition PSDB party.
On September 26, 2007, the Brazilian senate voted on whether to enact the temporary measure which created Unger's secretariat, into law. The Senate rejected the temporary measure, meaning that the nearly 600 appointed employees would be fired and the secretariat disbanded. The vote lacked the support of the centrist PMDB party. The party's leader, Valdir Raupp, was quoted saying he did not oppose the secretariat, but disapproved of the government's decision to create hundreds of jobs by decree. President Lula recreated the ministry on October 4, utilizing a presidential decree instead of a temporary measure. This has been challenged in the Supreme Federal Tribunal by the opposition PSDB and DEM parties as unconstitutional, citing article 48 of the Constitution of Brazil which states that only congress, with consent of the president, may authorize the creation or abolishment of ministries and all other government jobs.
Since Unger's appointee to head the IPEA, Mário Pochmann, took office in August 2007, 5 of the 6 main directors of the IPEA have been replaced. Four economists, Fábio Giambiagi, Otávio Tourinho, Regis Bonelli and Gervásio Rezende, were placed on administrative leave and are expected to leave the IPEA by December 2007. All four had previously published papers or espoused opinions which are contrary to the current administration's economic development philosophy. They will be replaced by economists which are generally considered to be "aligned" with the current government. In an interview, Pochmann explained the replacement by citing the fact that both Giambiagi and Toutinho were "on loan" from the BNDES, and that their loan arrangements were not being renewed, citing their objectives as having been "completed". As for Bonelli and Rezende, which had been at the IPEA for over 40 years, Pochmann stated that both were officially retired from the institution, and by continuing to work for the IPEA, both were in an "irregular" situation. The move gained wide coverage in the press was criticized by both media and politicians. Delfim Netto, former Minister of Finance from 1979 to 1985, criticized the move, citing that even under the military dictatorship, the IPEA was not censored even when it openly criticized the military.
On June 26, 2009, President Lula announced Unger would be leaving the government and returning to Harvard University. His stated reason was Harvard's refusal to extend his leave of absence.
