President of Brazil for two terms (between 1995 and 2003).
He has a PhD in Political Sciences and a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology. He is a university professor and writer and was considered by the Library of Congress to be one of the greatest thinkers in the area of political science and sociology in Latin America.
He was in exile during the military dictatorship in Brazil, in Chile in 1964 and then in France, before returning to his country in 1968. He was the founder of the Brazilian Centre for Analysis and Planning (Cebrap). He also taught at Stanford, Cambridge and Paris universities.
He represented São Paulo as a senator for the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB) and was one of the founders of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) in 1988. He was a member of the parliament that drafted the Constitution.
He was Minister of Foreign Affairs (1992-1993) and Minister of Finance (1993-1994) in Itamar Franco's government.
He has a PhD Honoris Causa from the University of Coimbra and University of Porto Schools of Economics and from the University of Montreal. He has received the John W. Kluge Award (2012).