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Literally everybody I know in Brazil - and I know dozens of people there - would disagree with the statement that Brazil is getting more stable.

margalabargala 2y ago
Could you elaborate? The people you know in Brazil think that the prosecution of Bolsonaro represents less democratic stability than the leadership of Bolsonaro?
- glimshe 2y ago
  I don't know details because I don't ask. I just hear them complaining about how the current administration is contributing to the country's ongoing decline. Not once I heard "things are getting better now". The current president is governing for the 3rd time already. I understand this is allowed by Brazil's constitution and he was technically elected democratically but doesn't inspire a lot of confidence regarding Brazil's democracy. I believe he also had a woman president (Dilma?) as his proxy for 8 years. Sounds too similar to the kind of thing you see in Russia. This is just my take when looking at it from the outside.
  - margalabargala 2y ago
    > The current president is governing for the 3rd time already. I understand this is allowed by Brazil's constitution and he was technically elected democratically but doesn't inspire a lot of confidence regarding Brazil's democracy. I don't understand why this doesn't inspire confidence for you. Angela Merkel was Chancellor of Germany for four terms, do you feel similarly about Germany's democracy? I'm not saying Brazil's government is perfect or corruption free by any means, but when I ask for examples of what's wrong with it, "the president has served a number of terms less than or equal to the maximum permitted by law" doesn't seem like a good primary criticism... Granted, Lula's approval rating is not great.
    - glimshe 2y ago
      Lack of term limits is a problem for any democracy. This isn't as much of an issue for parliamentary systems where the head of government is under continuous vigilance and can be quickly removed; that's not what Brazil has as far as I know.

margalabargala 2y ago

Could you elaborate? The people you know in Brazil think that the prosecution of Bolsonaro represents less democratic stability than the leadership of Bolsonaro?

glimshe 2y ago
I don't know details because I don't ask. I just hear them complaining about how the current administration is contributing to the country's ongoing decline. Not once I heard "things are getting better now". The current president is governing for the 3rd time already. I understand this is allowed by Brazil's constitution and he was technically elected democratically but doesn't inspire a lot of confidence regarding Brazil's democracy. I believe he also had a woman president (Dilma?) as his proxy for 8 years. Sounds too similar to the kind of thing you see in Russia. This is just my take when looking at it from the outside.
- margalabargala 2y ago
  > The current president is governing for the 3rd time already. I understand this is allowed by Brazil's constitution and he was technically elected democratically but doesn't inspire a lot of confidence regarding Brazil's democracy. I don't understand why this doesn't inspire confidence for you. Angela Merkel was Chancellor of Germany for four terms, do you feel similarly about Germany's democracy? I'm not saying Brazil's government is perfect or corruption free by any means, but when I ask for examples of what's wrong with it, "the president has served a number of terms less than or equal to the maximum permitted by law" doesn't seem like a good primary criticism... Granted, Lula's approval rating is not great.
  - glimshe 2y ago
    Lack of term limits is a problem for any democracy. This isn't as much of an issue for parliamentary systems where the head of government is under continuous vigilance and can be quickly removed; that's not what Brazil has as far as I know.