Read an article and answer questions
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LatinAmericaandBrazil.pptxCritique Assignment for June 2
By first letter of last name:
A to B = Diamond, Chapter 6
C to D = Krastev article
E to G = Plattner article
H to J = Diamond, Chapter 7
K to L = Pei article
M to O = Ang article
P to Z = No assignment
Latin America’s Shifting Politics (Levitsky)
Latin America is extremely democratic
It has never been this democratic for this long (30 years) in its history
13 of 19 Latin American states are democracies
Three others (Bolivia, Ecuador, and Honduras) are near-democracies
Only Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela are fully authoritarian
Latin American democracies have improved in quality and are experiencing their longest uninterrupted period of democracy
Concerns for democracy in Latin America
While democracy is surviving, it is not thriving
Only 30% of Latin Americans say they feel satisfied with their country’s democracy, down from 44% in 2010
Only 25% trust their government, and fewer trust their national legislatures and political parties
Only 58% believe that democracy is the best form of government, down from 69% in 2010
Latin Americans have been voting against the political establishment
Latin Americans are unhappy with their democracies (1)
Extreme social inequality
Gap between the citizens and the political elite
Uneven access to the law generates perceptions of unfairness
Party weakness
Partisan identities eroded by severe crises and policy failures
Voting against the whole political establishment
Latin Americans are unhappy with their democracies (2)
State weakness
Failure to uphold the rule of law leads to corruption and public insecurity
Failure to tax effectively and redistribute wealth
Undermines government performance
Other challenges to democracy in Latin America (1)
Resurgence of the illiberal right
Iron-fisted politicians that trample on liberal rights and constitutional norms
Examples include Keiko Fujimori in Peru, Alvaro Uribe in Columbia, and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil
Democratic centre-right parties have severely declined
Other challenges to democracy in Latin America (2)
Polarization
Parties viewing rivals as enemies or existential threats
Willing to use “any means necessary” (violence, election fraud, and military coups) to defeat rivals
Brazil and Columbia have become extremely polarized
Other challenges to democracy in Latin America (3)
The changing international environment
The U.S. does little to advance the cause of democracy in Latin America anymore
The Trump administration is the least prodemocratic U.S. government in decades
Good signs for democracy in Latin America
Core democratic institutions are strikingly robust
Unlike the rest of the world, Latin America is not in a democratic recession
Latin American non-democracies are weaker and doing much worse than democracies are
Elections take place in every country, except Cuba
Bolsonaro and Brazil’s Illiberal Backlash (Hunter and Power)
Brazil’s Oct. 2018 election
Presidential victory for far-right populist, Jair Bolsonaro
Won runoff with 55% of the vote over Workers’ Party (PT) candidate, Fernando Haddad
The PT had governed Brazil from 2003-2016
Haddad was a late substitution for former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Lula) who was imprisoned after corruption charges stemming from the Operation Car Wash scandal
Brazil President, Jair Bolsonaro
Decline of establishment parties in Brazil (1)
Two parties dominated politics since 1994, the PT, and the Party of Brazilian Social Democracy (PSDB)
The PT and PSDB consistently won a combined 70% to 90% of the vote
The PT won four consecutive presidential elections
The PT got blamed for a serious downturn in the economy after 2013, for massive corruption, and for rising levels of crime
Decline of establishment parties in Brazil (2)
The PSDB formed a government with the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB), but was unable to improve the economy or control corruption and crime
MDB President Michel Temer had very low approval ratings
One out of three members of Congress was under either indictment or investigation from criminal activity
Four crises in Brazil deflated government legitimacy (1)
Economic crisis
The worst recession in Brazilian history, losing almost 8% of its GDP
Political crisis
Rising polarization
Falling trust in establishment parties
Impeachment of president Dilma Rousseff in 2016
Emergence of a far-right fringe, expressing nostalgia for the order and clean government of the military dictatorship
Four crises in Brazil deflated government legitimacy (2)
Corruption crisis
The largest corruption investigation in the world
Revealed a large bribery and kickback scheme involving rigged bids by leading construction firms and contracts with Brazil’s largest oil company
Produced almost 1,000 arrests and 125 convictions
Four crises in Brazil deflated government legitimacy (3)
Deterioration of the pubic-security environment
Murder rate was up, as almost 64,000 were killed in 2017
17 of the 50 most violent cities in the world are in Brazil
Law and order candidates became popular with both poor and affluent voters
Jair Bolsonaro (1)
A well-known but irrelevant fringe-party backbencher since 1994
Neither an outsider, nor an insider
A gaffe-prone extremist, who has made multiple sexist, homophobic, and racist statements
Critical of human rights activists
Appealed to those with nostalgia for military rule
Jair Bolsonaro (2)
Much like Donald Trump, he can read the public mood and chose the right year to run for president
Was stabbed in the stomach in Sept. 2018, but survived and was elected president two months later
Support came from middle and upper classes, college graduates, and Pentecostal Christians
Changing party landscape
The PT and PSDB lost many seats and were severely weakened
Brazil has the world’s most fragmented party-system in history
Bolsonaro is perceived as an ideological extremist and will face much gridlock
Bolsonaro’s PSL party has only 10% of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 5% in the Senate
Bolsonaro lacks an institutionalized political party to catch his falls and see him through hard times
Brazil’s last populist leader, Fernando Collor, had similar problems, and was elected in 1990 and impeached and resigned in 1992
