Hunger, Pandemic, and Politics
Posted inEconomics Politics Social

Hunger, Pandemic, and Politics

Hunger is not a new challenge for many Brazilians. But the problem has been heightened during the COVID pandemic. In Heliópolis, São Paulo’s largest favela, pre-pandemic food lines might have attracted three hundred people; now, that number has more than tripled. Brazil has re-entered the World Food Programme’s Hunger Map this year...
November 9, 2021Posted inEconomics, Politics, Social
Indigenous Peoples: From Sins of Omission to Commission
Posted inEnvironment Institutional Social

Indigenous Peoples: From Sins of Omission to Commission

September was marked by significant protests by indigenous peoples in Brasilia.  In late August, more than six thousand native people descended on the city to accompany a long-awaited decision by the high court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), regarding the demarcation of native lands. On September 10, five thousand indigenous women...
October 12, 2021Posted inEnvironment, Institutional, Social
Lula and the Politics of Racial Reclassification in Brazil
Posted inPolitics Social

Lula and the Politics of Racial Reclassification in Brazil

Brazil’s 2022 presidential contest is one of the most anticipated elections since the return to democracy. It will be particularly interesting to see how the leading candidates address race, racism, and the effects of Brazil’s overlapping political, economic, health, and environmental crises on citizens of Afro-Brazilian descent.  Former president Luiz...
September 28, 2021Posted inPolitics, Social11 Comments
Labor regulations and globalization
Posted inEconomics Social

Labor regulations and globalization

How do market-oriented reforms matter to workers outside the formal economy? This is an important question for developing economies, where formal labor markets often coexist with large pools of informal labor, in which workers are offered fewer protections, little training, and few if any benefits.  But it is also a...
June 4, 2021Posted inEconomics, Social
Reflections on Bolsonaro’s Brazil
Posted inJudiciary Politics Social

Reflections on Bolsonaro’s Brazil

In case you missed it, American University's AULA Blog has posted two good reflections on Bolsonaro's Brazil in recent days: Ingrid Fontes, a senior at American University, writes about the Bolsonaro administration’s devastatingly incompetent response to the pandemic, showing Brazil’s comparatively high death rate and low vaccination rate, as well...
June 2, 2021Posted inJudiciary, Politics, Social
Reshaping the meaning of politics
Posted inEnvironment Politics Social

Reshaping the meaning of politics

Brazil’s political turbulence remains difficult to fully comprehend, in part because of the enormous concussive shock with which the seemingly golden years of pre-salt oil and commodity-driven prosperity suddenly met a grim sequence of protest, impeachment, and scandal. Scholarship has been challenged by the historical contingency of the unprecedented, fluid...
May 17, 2021Posted inEnvironment, Politics, Social
Elite quality and development
Posted inEconomics Politics Social

Elite quality and development

The Elite Quality Report 2020 claims to be the “first ever international measurement of elite quality,” aiming to distinguish between elites who are high-quality value creators and elites who are low-quality value extractors.   For readers of this blog, the report will be of interest because it finds the BRIS countries clustered in...
February 6, 2021Posted inEconomics, Politics, Social
Assorted Links: Crime and Corruption
Posted inSocial

Assorted Links: Crime and Corruption

The next few posts will highlight some of the interesting Brazil-related research that crossed our desks in the last quarter of 2020. This post focuses on five recent works on crime and corruption. Juan Albarracín and Nicholas Barnes begin their review essay on criminal organizations in the Latin American Research Review with shocking...
January 18, 2021Posted inSocial