Comparative Politics Country Case Study Brazil Case Study

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Politics - Country Case Study - Brazil

Brazil's success during its early years is primarily owed to the fact that colonists were attracted by its potential and New World settlement promises meant to influence individuals into leaving their home in favor of a rich and fertile territory. In spite of the fact that the majority of Brazilians during the late nineteenth century consisted of African-Americans, the country's public rapidly diversified as European immigrants started to flow into the area. With Portugal's royal family being strongly connected to its South American colony, Brazil became more important and locals started to express their need for independence. The country went through several political crises until 1985, when influential people there installed a democratic government.

Even with the turmoil that dominated most of the twentieth century, Brazil's international role was established during the early nineteenth century, when it became independent. Emperor Pedro II's influence did not last for long, as people in Brazil were determined to install a Republic. The colonialist period and the Portuguese monarchy have played a very important role in shaping Brazilian thinking, especially given that people in Brazil associated independence with anti-monarchic feelings. While some might be inclined to believe that the colonialist period has had a limited effect on contemporary Brazil, matters are actually different. With the political junta, military dictatorship, and a series of other rulings that prevented people in Brazil from expressing themselves freely, it would seem that Democratic Brazil has lost any kind of connection to Colonial Brazil. Brazil is most certainly unable to leave its more distant past behind, even with the fact that it struggled to survive all across the twentieth century. It would surely be impossible for someone to ignore the remembrance of slavery, colonialism, and discrimination felt throughout present-day Brazil (Sadlier, 2008, p. 209).

The basis of modern-day Brazil lies in the military government that dominated the country in the twentieth century. Military rulers considered that a leader's influence over the country would be stronger if locally-elected municipalities got the chance of holding power.

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This proved to be an essential factor in making Brazil one of the most advanced developing countries, as "whereas the national and state governments are strained by budget constraints and deficits, municipal governments are flush with cash as a result of fiscal transfers" (Arsenault). The 1988 Constitution made it possible for decentralization to take place on the streets of Brazil, influencing the masses in getting actively involved in the country's affairs. In spite of the rapid evolution it experienced in the early 1990s, Brazil was unable to completely recover from one of its most significant problems - poverty. While Brazil's infrastructure points toward the belief that it is a developed state, the conditions that its citizens live in are characteristic to people living in Third-World countries. It present situation is most probably owed to the fact that its leaders were unhesitant about adopting questioning financial policies and because they were unable to correctly exploit the country's resources. With matters becoming even more desperate in the recent years, it seems that the government is once again willing to support a centralization process. It is difficult to predict the exact factors responsible for preventing the Brazilian state from advancing normally, as the government has tried several techniques and most of them failed to stabilize Brazil's economy until the moment (Arsenault).

Decentralization stands as one of the most promising methods of assisting Brazil in recovering from the economic downfall that it experienced in the last few years. Decentralization affects both economy and politics, thus meaning that it is very likely for the government to have lesser and lesser influence over the people in the following years. These two factors are particulary important, especially when considering that "the location of party brokers and the expected career path for political careers affected decentralization after the 1980s" (Oatis, 2005, p. 4). Brazil's decentralization was greatly influenced by the fact that most parties in the country expressed little to no confidence, thus making people feel that it would be better if they were to….....

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