Brazil Flashcards
Independence and empire
III. Empire (1822-1889);
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|—>Pedro I declares independence (1822);
|—> Authoritarian constitution under “enlightened” monarch against slavery (1824);
|—> Abolition of slavery under growing influence of a republican elite vs. land owners (1888);
|—> Coup against Pedro II (1889);
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IV. First Republic - mirroring US Constitution but strong control of oligarchs (1889-1930);
Portuguese colonization
—> Portugal claims Brazil as exploitation colony (1500);
|—> Super age: many indigenous people die from imported diseases in the trade of slaves
| and 3/4 million slaves are shipped to Brazil (1550-1830);
|—> Napoleon invades Iberia and the Portuguese King moves to Brazil
(1807);
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II. Foundation of the kingdom of Brazil, linked to the Portuguese
Monarchy (1815);
Series of regimes
1889-1930 first republic: US constitution, oligarchic system
1930-1945 Getulio Vargas establishes authoritarian Estado Novo regime
* Having issues with the former plantation owners
1945-1964 second republic -> military coup
* Bureaucratic regime = allowed for democratic parties, but military kept in power
V. Getúlio Vargas’ establishes authoritarian Estado Novo in the first military coup (1930-1945);
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|—> Provisional government (1930-1937);
|—> Estado Novo (1937-1945);
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VI. Second Military coup (1945)
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VII. Second Republic (1945-1964);
VIII.Military regime (1964-1985);
New republic 1980s transition to democracy
Abertura: controlled transition from military regime to democratic regime
* Church played big role
1988 adoption of new constitution
|—> “Abertura” - controlled transition;
|—> Adoption of new constitution (1988);
|—> Collor de Mello presidency - charged with corruption, impeached and resigns (1989-1992);
|—> Constitutional referendum - 86,6% in favour of Brazil being a republic and 69,2% in favour of
| it being a presidential system (1993);
|—> Economic reforms and uptake (1995); 1993 constitutional referendum
* Last cornerstone of transition to democracy, Brazil decided they didn’t want a monarchy with presidential system
Region cleavage
Strongest cleavage in Brazilian politics
Overlaps with class and race cleavage
Tensions federal government and states (as in USA)
Strong regional identifications and decentralized federalism
50% of wealth is concentrated in the small southern part
Class and religion
Class cleavage is less important despite extreme inequality
- 9th highest level of inequality in the world in 2022 (Luxurious areas vs. Favelas);
- Partly politicised through leftist and rightists parties;
- But overlapping with and overshadowed by regional cleavages;
Religion not very important 75% of population is catholic
Cleavages in general are less important in new democracies such as Brazil
Church crucial in democratic transition process (kinda more left wing)
* Liberation theology
Cleavages race and ethnicity
People identifying as white live in the southern part
Mixed people live in the middle and north
Rainbow nation, lots of people from different heritages
Race class and affirmative action
- partly overlaps with class and race cleavages
President
Directly elected with VP for 4 year term
Maximum 2 consecutive terms, but can return
Appoints cabinet
Initiates legislation 80% and parliament only 20%
Veto powers (can be overturned by simple majority)
Emergency decrees but are limited
impeachment = Chamber of deputy 2/3, senate vote 2/3
|—> 1922 - Collor de Mello resigns before impeachment;
|—> 2016 - Rousseff successfully impeached;
Presidential elections
Two round system (as in France and Russia)
Simultaneous with parliamentary elections
Need for political alliances (coalitional presidentialism)
- Every four years;
- Majoritarian run-off (Two rounds);
- Round 1: all candidates (absolute majority wins - if
not, round 2);
- Round 2: two candidates with most votes in round 1
(absolute majority wins);
- Incites electoral alliance in second round (two bloc
system);
- Ticket: president and vice-president;
Chamber of deputies - Congress
513 members, elected for 4 year terms
Less powerful than constitution suggests
Presidents party needs to form a coalition with lots of different parties
State districts elect members to lower house, each districts elects a different number of people
- Introduces and passes legislation;
- Highly fragmented;
Chamber of deputies elections
Open list pr system
Voting for candidate, not party
Districts = states (8-70 seats)
No electoral threshold
Voting is compulsory
All seats are elected every four years;
- Open-list PR system;
|—> Voting for a candidate, not party;
|—> Seats are distributed proportionally across parties;
|—> Candidates with most votes take their party’s seats;
- District - states (8-70 seats);
Resulting in - extreme fragmentation - weak party discipline - regional identity trumps party identity - Clientelistic practices - Pork-barrel politics and recurrent splitting and switching
Federal senate
81 members, elected for 8 year terms, staggered elections
* Confirming high presidential appointments(e.g. when president appoints ministers)
- Introduces and passes legislation;
- Also significantly fragmented;
Coalitional presidentialism
Presidents never have parliamentary majority
Depend on broad coalition of parties in parliament
Advocates: need for big coalitions, consensual politics, stability
In practice, presidents have to allocate resources to supporting parties
Effects coalitional presidentialism
- Weakens the independent functioning of parliament
- Eradicates programmatic links between politicians and voters
- Produces a lack of accountability and bad governance
- Creates interest group dominance and corruption
- “corruption, rent-seeking and fundamentally flawed ways of conducting political business are integral…”
Federalism and local government
Symmetric, robust federalism but no clear division of tasks
26 states and 1 federal district with elected governors and legislatures
Enhances problems that exist
- 26 states and 1 federal district (Brasilia);
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|—> Symmetric - same powers for all states;
|—> Competitive - between states and federal levels;
- “Robust” federalism:
- States are politically important;
- Even if nominal powers are limited (and confusing);
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|—> Reserved federal matters - defense, currency, minerals, etc.
|—> Joint powers: health, culture;
|—> Concurrent powers: health, culture;
|—> Residual powers: state competences;
- Adopted in reaction to centralist empire;
- Frequent of clientelism and corruption;
Political parties PT
- Social democracy
- Decreasing inequality
- Agrarian reform
- Participatory democracy
Contributing factors to clientelism and corruption
- Historical colonialism and oligarchy, clientelism was already present on plantations in combination with oligarchy
- Coalitional presidentialism
- Weakness of ideologies, parties
- Federalism and decentralization
- Extreme inequality, poverty, and affirmative action (Bolsa Famillia)
2018 election of the century
Bolsonaro rose because he distanced himself from the entire corrupt class and would tackle corruption, gang violence and crime
Former president Lula banned from run by superior electoral court
* PT nominates less charismatic Fernando Haddad as candidate
Jair Bolsonaro: against corruption, against elites, against system
But also: xenophobic, homophobic, ultranationalist and supportive of former military regime
One month before election he got stabbed which propelled his victory
2018-2022 Bolsonaro presidency
Extreme polarization (see second republic and USA)
Attacks on civil liberties (media freedom LGBT rights)
Enduring corruption scandals, also involving Bolsonaro’s family
Open questioning of democracy and coup threats
Freedomhouse decline 79>75
but = * Rigid constitution, powerful checks and balances (esp. supreme court)
* System of coalitional presidentialism hielp om zijn extreemste wetten tegen te houden
Why got Bolsonaro kicked out of office?
Inadequate maatregelen corona
Deforestation of the amazon
Lula’s second act
Extremely polarized political context
Image of Lula tarnished (corruption)
Right wing congress
Economic stagnation
Political parties center PSDB
Centrist but diverse ideologies
political parties center
brazilian democratic movement MDB, quite clientelist party
Political parties right
Brazil union
LIberal conservatism
Bolsonaro left this party
Political parties far right
Liberal party (PL)
Joined by bolsonaro in 2021
o Conservatism
o Nationalism
o Far-right populism
Voorkennis
Brazil is the 5th biggest country in the world, but it is highly unurbanized due to
the Amazon forest. It is also the 8th largest economy in the world, even though
it has a history of extreme poverty and inequalities.
Regional cleavages
- Strongest cleavage in Brazilian politics;
- Strong regional identifications and federalism;
- Tensions federal government and states (as in U.S.);
- Partly overlap with class and race cleavages;
Presidentialism and federalism
- Analogies with U.S. Presidentalism;
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|—> Directly elected president;
|—> Directly elected bicameral parliament;
|—> Independent judiciary;
|—> Separation of powers; - Differences with the U.S.;
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|—> Additional constitutional checks;
|—> Electoral systems (President: two-round; Chamber: open-list PR); - Strongly decentralised federation;
Judiciary
- Federal court system;
- Predominantly based on codified law;
- Supreme Court - 11 justices nominated by the president and approved by the senate for 30
years (and have to retire at 75); - Supreme electoral court (ensure fairness of campaigns and elections);
Senate elections
- In years with one candidate per state (1/3 of senate);
|—> SMD/FPTP system (as for U.S. Senate);
|—> Voters cast one vote and who obtains most is elected; - In years with two candidates per state (2/3 of senate);
|—> Plurality block voting;
|—> Voters cast two votes (for two different candidates) and the two
with most votes are elected; - Similar (albeit slightly lower) degree of fragmentation;
Economic decline and corruption
- 2013-2016: GDP drop of 6,9% – rise in violence and crime.
- 2014-2015: Petrobras, Odebrecht and Lava Jato corruption scandal “The largest corruption
scandal ever in a democratic nation”. - 2016: President Rousseff impeached Vice-president Temer takes over.
- 2017: New corruption scandal involving Temer and 352 of 594 MPs.
- This led to a huge decline in the trust in politics (only 6% of parties trust the political parties);
Democratic backsliding
- Extreme polarisation - let the military in the past to step in;
- Attacks on civil liberties;
- Enduring corruption scandals (also involving Bolsonaro’s family);
- Open questioning of democracy;
- Coup threats;
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|—STILL—> Rigid checks and balances and coalitional presidentalism;
Indigenous victimisation
Different forms of violation:
- Direct —> expulsion/land destruction (right wing - Temer and Bolsonaro);
- Cultural —> discourses against them (right wing - Temer and Bolsonaro);
- Structural —> omission of protection (left wing - da Silva and Rousseff);
