From a Rooseveltian Dream to the Nightmare of Parliamentary Coup

Abstract

During a period of around 10 years, between 2003 and 2014, lulismo was able to put in march a process of moderate social integration in Brazil. The historical meaning of the experience can be understood when we remember the existence of an important part of Brazilian society which was never integrated at all. The two presidential terms of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003–2010) and the first of Dilma Rousseff (2011–2014) opened to a certain number of workers the possibility of overcoming what Robert Castel calls “vulnerability zone.” This was done with the commitment of no political confrontation, for which the parallel commodity cycle in world economy helped a lot. However, there was a change in the economic conditions from 2011 on. Rousseff tried to face it making a developmentalist move, which failed for political reasons, and since the start of her second period, in 2015, economic crisis impacted the country. At the same time, a great operation against corruption (Operacao Lava Jato) and a radical change of the government’s main ally in Congress, the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), led to the impeachment of Dilma in August 2016. Lulismo collapsed and the integration obtained before started to be undone. More than that, the partisan structure that permitted the lulist experience is being menaced by Operacao Lava Jato. Nevertheless, Brazilian democracy needs a popular force to work. Today, this force is lulismo, which is confirmed by the leading of Lula in the presidential polls. Whether it will remain like that depends on the future of democracy as such.