Fernando Henrique Cardoso - After The Presidency

After The Presidency

After stepping down from office, he has assumed his position as a senior leader of his party and is a leading public voice in the opposition to the Partido dos Trabalhadores government, writing extensively on Brazilian politics for newspapers, giving lectures and interviews. Nevertheless, his relatively low popularity rates among the general population has made his legacy a mixed blessing to his political allies, who are somewhat reluctant to embrace it wholeheartedly during elections, specially on the topics of 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 created by him 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 started to advocate for a relaxation on criminal laws relating to drugs, generating both criticism and praise. He has been giving lectures at Brown University, about Brazilian economic policy, urban development, and deforestation and 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 a regular contributor.

After leaving the Brazilian presidency, Cardoso joined the Club of Madrid, The Elders and chaired the Global Commission on Drug Policy. He is a member of the Fondation Chirac's honour committee, ever since the foundation was launched in 2008 by former French president Jacques Chirac in order to promote world peace. He is also a member of the board of directors of World Resources Institute.