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 as the blatant missteps that hampered a more effective response.
Fábio Kerche, a former fellow at AU’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies (CLALS), and Marjorie Marona, professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, assess Lula’s return to politics after the Supreme Federal Tribunal vacated his conviction on corruption charges. Bolsonaro is polling badly, potential third way candidates seem to be gaining little traction, and Lula is playing the statesmanlike conciliator. Might that guarantee the pole position to Lula in the 2022 elections?
Marona and Kerche also have a thought-provoking new article (in English), critiquing the literature on anticorruption (including yours truly) for failing to consider the negative externalities of the anticorruption agenda in Brazil which, they argue, helped to erode democracy. There’s lots to chew on here, and the piece will be of interest to anyone interested in thinking about the best ways of strategizing anticorruption efforts. If nothing else, the practical question I have after reading their paper is how a possible 2023 Lula presidency will resolve the terrible tension between the need to control corruption, which is likely to weigh heavily on his legacy, and the desire to ensure that accountability agencies are constructive actors, in a political system that badly needs effective policing.
Image: Flickr/ Creative Commons License
