What now for Brazil? Conference to discuss the future of a democracy in turmoil

With the news that impeachment proceedings are to go ahead against President Dilma Rousseff, disarray grips Brazilian politics.  In the midst of this political storm, a workshop to debate the issues surrounding the crisis and the future of Brazilian democracy is to take place at St John’s College, University of Cambridge. 

After weeks of crippling uncertainty, the Brazilian Senate has voted to start an impeachment trial against President Dilma Rousseff. Rousseff will now be suspended from office pending a trial that could last up to six months.

The President faces accusations of creative accounting to hide the scale of Brazil’s budget deficit. With Brazil in the grip of its worst recession for 25 years, calls for Rousseff’s impeachment mounted rapidly, with popularity ratings for her leftist Workers’ Party plummeting from 80% to 10%.

Rousseff’s opponents accuse her government of deep-seated corruption and mismanagement of the economy, while her supporters claim the scandal is a smear campaign amounting to a political coup. This week, both sides have taken to the streets to protest, with blocked roads and burning barricades causing widespread disruption.

Acting behind the scenes for the President’s impeachment, Vice President Michel Temer will now step in as interim President. However, with Temer also facing the risk of impeachment and many of the other possible presidential candidates discredited by corruption claims, what does the future hold for Brazil’s young democracy?

The way forward for a Brazilian political system in crisis will be under intense discussion at a workshop involving world experts in Latin American Studies.

The event, taking place at St John’s College, Cambridge, on Tuesday 17 May, will feature an international panel of speakers who will debate the justifications for the impeachment proceedings against the President and explore various options for political reform.

Through discussion by leading academics, the workshop aims to give students in Cambridge reading subjects including Latin American Studies, Politics and Sociology, as well as the general public, a deeper insight into the issues at stake in Brazil and their possible solutions.

Organiser of the workshop, Professor Pedro Floriano Ribeiro, Celso Furtado Visiting Scholar at St John’s College from the Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar, Brazil), said: “After some years of political stability, economic development and achievements in the reduction of inequalities, Brazil has been facing a complex and rare combination of problems in the last three years”.

“Brazilian politics operate under a system of “Coalitional Presidentialism” which means that parties can only get into power by forming coalition governments with other parties.  This has played a major role in the chronic instability and fragmentation that we are witnessing today.”

“During the workshop, we will consider ways to block the extreme fragmentation of governments such as introducing a threshold number of votes parties need to elect representatives in Congress and to gain access to public funds– the German parliament currently stipulates that parties must gain at least 5% of votes for example. Speakers will also discuss options such as putting the political mechanisms in place to bring forward the elections that are currently scheduled for 2018.”

The workshop will explore the wider context to the current crisis. Speakers including Timothy Power, Director of the Latin American Centre, University of Oxford, will discuss the major transformations experienced by Brazilian politics and society in the last two decades.

Further talks from academics including Tomas Undurraga, a Research Fellow at University College London, will debate the role of the media in the process of impeaching the President and that of social networks in forming public opinion.

“The Brazilian media has a clear tendency against the Government” said Professor Ribeiro. “Broadly speaking it is right wing and conservative which clashes with the government’s leftist position. The accusations of corruption and incompetency in Brazil are against the whole of the political class, but the media typically focuses on two or three figures or parties.”

“Social media is very popular amongst the middle classes in Brazil and has played a big part in galvanising the people for political demonstrations. It has a major influence on public opinion.”

The event will be attended by the Ambassador of Brazil to the United Kingdom, Eduardo dos Santos. The Ambassador will discuss the academic links that have been established in recent years between CAPES (the educational agency of the Brazilian government) and St John’s College.

As a result of this relationship, a new scholarship programme has been established at the College with the aim of enhancing knowledge of Brazil in Cambridge. Professor Ribeiro is the first holder of the post named, “The Celso Furtado Scholarship in Brazilian Humanities” for the academic year 2015-16.

In recent years a collection of more than 2,000 books on Brazil and Latin America have been donated to the Library at St John’s College by St John’s alumnus and Founding Director of the Brazil Studies Program at Harvard University, Professor Kenneth Maxwell.

This important collection, held in the Working Library at the College, forms a valuable and unique resource for students of Latin American Studies worldwide. 

“Beyond the turmoil: Transformations and challenges of contemporary Brazil” is taking place on Tuesday 17 May from 9am – 6pm, in the Lightfoot Room in the Old Divinity School. The workshop is free to attend and open to everyone, but registration is essential. To confirm your attendance email: jac46@cam.ac.uk.

The event is supported by St John’s College, the Centre of Latin American Studies (University of Cambridge) and the Embassy of Brazil, London.

View the full programme here.

For more information on the Celso Furtado Scholarship visit: http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/new-visiting-fellowship-brazilian-history-and-humanities-0