The republic in crisis and future possibilities.

José Maurício Domingues

doi:10.1590/1413-81232017226.02472017

Abstract

This text gives a brief reconstruction of the process of impeachment of Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, which was a 'coup' effected through parliament, and situates it at the end of three periods of politics in the Brazilian republic: the first, broader, and democratizing; the second, the age of the PT (Workers' Party) as the force with the hegemony on the left; and the third, shorter, the cycle of its governments. Together, these phases constitute a crisis of the republic, although not a rupture of the country's institutional structure, nor a 'State of Exception'. The paper puts forward three main issues: the developmentalist project implemented by the governments of the PT, in alliance with Brazil's construction companies; the role of the judiciary, and in particular of 'Operation Carwash'; and the conflict-beset relationship between the new evangelical churches and the LGBT social movements. The essay concludes with an assessment of the defeat and isolation of the left at this moment, and also suggests that democracy, in particular, could be the kernel of a renewed project of the left.

Highlights

This text gives a brief reconstruction of the process of impeachment of Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff, which was a ‘coup’ effected through parliament, and situates it at the end of three periods of politics in the Brazilian republic: the first, broader, and democratizing; the second, the age of the PT (Workers’ Party) as the force with the hegemony on the left; and the third, shorter, the cycle of its governments
The effect was to alienate most of society, in particular the middle classes, and of the ascending poorer classes, as well as the fact that she and the PT found themselves, at the end, facing their principal allies as opponents: initially the Brazilian Socialist Party (Partido Socialista Brasileiro– PSB), and later the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (Partido do Movimento Democrático Brasileiro – PMDB)
The fact is that Rousseff and the PT did not in reality succeed in giving responses to a context that was both intricate and challenging. As a result they lost the support of agents that place themselves in the center of the political spectrum, allowing them to incline toward the right

Summary

Isolation and impeachment

Brazil is at present immersed in one of the most serious crises of its history. A long cycle of democratization, beginning in the 1970s with the struggle against the military dictatorship that started in 1964, came to a close – accompanied by the end of a cycle in which the uncontested hegemony of the Brazilian left was held by the Workers’ Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores - PT), and has come to the end of its electoral cycle, with the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff. Having run a campaign that polarized the political debate, positioning herself more to the left than she had previously, even before taking office in her second government Rousseff adopted the adjustment policies of Aécio Neves, her adversary from the PSDB party. She lost a considerable part of the social base that elected her. One of the basic objectives of the coup against Rousseff – sacrificing the PT – was, for many political agents, the need to escape justice, and prison, and the agenda of the neoliberals joined up with this as a secondary goal, even though it was a priority for the leaders of Brazilian business, and for international capital. It is possible that a period of sub-continental hegemony of the center-right may be opening, with a corporate discourse

The issue of development and the struggles within the dominant classes

Democracy and justice

Social and cultural pluralism

Findings

Looking toward the future