Brazil in Focus

by Rolf Kuntz

President Dilma Rousseff is nearing the halfway mark of her first mandate with the economy idling, inflation above target, public finances a mess, exports flagging, government investment stalled and national infrastructure crumbling. Officials have yet to come up with a convincing explanation for the frequent blackouts or the drought of investment that plague the electric sector (In the first half of 2012, Eletrobrás spent only 20.8% of its projected annual budget). Federal management is inefficient, even after a major cabinet cleanup, because the bureaucracy remains a haven for patronage and political cronyism.

The Mensalao trial suggests that Brazil is changing

by Mac Margolis

As the mensalão - monthly payoff - scandal reaches a peak, Brazilians are getting a bit anxious. Is the historic conviction of 25 political mucky mucks from former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's administration the beginning of a new era, when crime really doesn't pay and a white collar is no longer a get-out-of-jail-free card? Or is this a passing Brazilian dream, after which the country will snap back into its too familiar routine of payola as usual and watching the high and mighty get away with murder?

Matthew Taylor, in these pages, sounded an eloquent cautionary note, warning of the potentially lenient punishments likely to be handed down by the Supreme Court. Still, in the national furor over the corruption trial, known in legalese as Penal Action 470, it's hard to escape the conclusion that Brazil indeed has turned a corner - and that the mensalão is only part of the story.

Brazil's Supreme Court takes on corruption, sort of

by Matthew Taylor
Brazilians have been anxiously watching their country's high court's deliberations over one of the most significant corruption scandals in nearly thirty years of democratic rule. Seven years ago, President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva's administration was shaken to its core by allegations of illegal payments to coalition partners. Members of the government admitted to the payments, but chalked them up to nothing more than the repayment of campaign debts. This too would be a crime, far less serious than bribing members of Congress, but nonetheless severe enough to force the resignations of Lula's chief of staff and leading coalition members.

Rio's long road to recovery

by Mauro Osorio da Silva
The rise of Rio de Janeiro from colonial jewel to seat of the modern republic is a story that Brazilian schoolchildren know by heart. What's less familiar, and much less understood, is the more recent history of the Marvelous City's stagnation and decline. Knowing and confronting both sides of the Rio story is essential to reinventing Brazil's fabled metropolis. The good news is that effort has begun. How long the recovery will take and how far reaching it will be are decisions that only the Cariocas can make.

Dilma's fight to control her own government

by Carlos Pereira
Some years ago, the political scientist Samuel Kernell set out to probe the mysteries of presidential popularity. The result was Going Public: New Strategies of Presidential Leadership, published in 1997 and which quickly became a classic. In it, Kernell examines leaders who leverage their popularity by appealing directly to the public as a way to legitimize harsh or unpopular measures or legislation, as opposed to executives who rely on more conventional, institutional bargaining mechanisms.