page_title: Fernando Henrique Cardoso
section_title: Post-presidency
hierarchical_section_title: Fernando Henrique Cardoso / Post-presidency
caption_attribution_description: Português: O ex-presidente Fernando Henrique Cardoso toma posse na cadeira número 36 da Academia Brasileira de Letras.
context_page_description: Fernando Henrique Cardoso GCB GCTE GCoIISE GColIH GColL GCM RE DMN CYC OMRI, also known by his initials FHC, is a Brazilian sociologist, professor and politician who served as the 34th President of Brazil from 1 January 1995 to 31 December 2002. He was the first Brazilian president to be reelected for a subsequent term. An accomplished scholar of dependency theory noted for his research on slavery and political theory, Cardoso has earned many honors including the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation and the Kluge Prize from the US Library of Congress.
  He was the 10th president of International Sociological Association.
context_section_description: After stepping down from office, he assumed a position as a senior leader of his party and leading public voice in the opposition to the incumbent Workers' Party, writing extensively on Brazilian politics for newspapers and giving lectures and interviews. Nevertheless, his relatively low popularity rates among the general population have made his legacy a mixed blessing to his political allies, who are somewhat reluctant to embrace it wholeheartedly during elections, especially on topics regarding privatization and social policy. In 2006, he helped the campaign of the PSDB candidate for the Presidency, Geraldo Alckmin, and has reiterated that he does not wish to run for office again.
  He dedicates his time to a personal institute which he founded in São Paulo, based on the model of bodies created by former presidents of the United States, has written two books about his experience as president of Brazil and advocates for relaxation of criminal laws relating to drugs, generating both criticism and praise. He lectures at Brown University about Brazilian economic policy, urban development, and deforestation and has taught as a guest lecturer at Sciences Po in Paris. Also, in 2007 he became a member of the editorial board of the Latin American policy publication Americas Quarterly, for which he is an occasional contributor.
  Since leaving the Brazilian presidency, Cardoso has been involved in a number of international organisations and initiatives. He is a member of the Club of Madrid and was its president from 2003 to 2006. He has been a member of the Fondation Chirac's honour committee, ever since the Foundation was launched in 2008 by former French president Jacques Chirac to promote world peace. Cardoso is a founding member of Washington D.C.-based think tank The Inter-American Dialogue as well as former chair of the organization's board. He is also a former director of World Resources Institute.
  Cardoso has a particular interest in drug policy. He served on the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy and later chaired the Global Commission on Drug Policy. He appeared as an interviewee in 2011 documentary Breaking the Taboo, which explores the conclusion reached by the Global Commission on Drug Policy in 2011 that drug liberalization is the best approach in dealing with drug policy.
  Cardoso is also a member of The Elders, a group of independent global leaders who work together on peace and human rights issues. In August 2009, he travelled to Israel and the West Bank as the head of an Elders delegation that also included Ela Bhatt, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Jimmy Carter, Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu.
  In 2013 he became a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.
  In 2017, Cardoso received the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award from the Inter-American Dialogue.
caption: Cardoso during his induction ceremony at the Brazilian Academy of Letters, September 10, 2013
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