Is Brazil a democracy? – World Countries for Kids

Brazil is very much a democracy. It has a presidential and federal governance system. Its present constitution provides strong protections for civil liberties. It also guarantees many rights including right to employment, healthcareand childcare. There is an independent judiciary, central bank and media and the nation has seen a peaceful transition of power since it turned into a democracy in 1985 subsequent to decades of military dictatorship. Nevertheless, Brazil’s democracy has been challenged by increasingly polarized politics, a fragile central state and the loss of trust in the ruling class.

Maintaining law and order has been a struggle for successive governments in Brazil’s vast territories particularly parts of the Amazon and in the Favelas (the vast slums or ghettos surrounding some Brazilian cities). Often, police and security services lack a consistent presence in those zones, ceding control to unlawful groups and undermining trust in the strength of the democratic state.

Problem of corruption also persists in Brazilian politics. Justice is sluggish due to a constitutional amendment that lets any case to be appealed to the Supreme Court and an overstrained judicial system. ‘Operation Car Wash’ (2014-19) exposed corruption at state-owned oil firm Petrobras and contracting companies. The trial, led by judgeSérgio Moro, saw present Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Lula) jailed in 2017 for accepting services from companies involved in the scandal.

‘Operation Car Wash’ was a landmark investigation. The case drained trust in Lula’s Workers Party, which had vowed to provide a cleaner form of politics in the early 2000s. But at the same time this case created division and suspicion of the justice system and, by extension, Brazil’s democratic bodies. Moro, hailed as a herofor a short time, was later admonished when it got revealed that he had communicated with the prosecutors investigating the case. This, combined with his choice to briefly join the administration of President Jair Bolosono as justice minister, spoilt his reputation as an objective jurist.

In part, the election of President Jair Bolsonaro in 2018 was a consequence of disillusionment with these recurrent political scandals and deeper shifts in Brazil’s historically fluid system. Voters placed their trust in someone perceived as a political outsider and a strongman, much in the cast of Donald Trump. Nevertheless, under Bolsonaro, a former military officer, polarization in Brazil’s politics deteriorated and public discourse coarsened.

Brazil has a US-style presidential system

Brazil has a presidential system akin to US with power divided between the legislature (the National Congress), the executive (the president) and the judiciary (headed by the Supreme Court). The National Congress has two houses akin to US.