The Crisis of Democracy in Brazil

This book fills a void in the existing literature on regime erosion and democratic backsliding by proposing a multidimensional and sequential explanation for the emergence of crisis of democracy using one of the most populous democracies in the world as a case study: Brazil. The book argues that long- and short-term factors combine to explain how democratic systems enter phases of profound instability, increasing system unpredictability and the resurgence of reinvigorated authoritarian enclaves in society.

Brazil is an interesting case because it has been portraited by the extant literature as an example of success among Third Wave Democracies in making progress towards a stable regime. Against such interpretations, this book presents evidences that unresolved dilemmas in the transition to democracy during the 1970’s became ever more pressing and evident as the system has been shaken by unprecedented political and economic crisis. The vulnerability of Brazilian democracy became explicit with successive episodes that accumulated over the years, especially since 2013, leading to and being crowned by the coming to power of Jair Bolsonaro, a conservative, extreme-right wing President, with clear authoritarian tendencies. Ultimately, as the book narrates, several events that have taken place over the past decade question any idea of normality in the system and that institutions work. Business simply has not been conducted as usual in Brazilian democracy.

The Crisis of Democracy in Brazil will be of interest to researchers in the fields of political science and political sociology interested in studying democratic backsliding and the current crisis of democracy all over the world by presenting a case study of how this crisis affected one of the largest democracies in the world.