S05E09: Ricar­do Regatieri on Brazil­ian Elec­tions: Bol­sonar­ism and Its Aftermath 

How has the suc­cess of an extreme author­i­tar­i­an fig­ure like Bol­sonaro been enabled by the polit­i­cal field in Brazil? What is the tra­jec­to­ry of the Brazil­ian left, rep­re­sent­ed by PT, ‘The Work­ers’ Par­ty’, led now to vic­to­ry by Pres­i­dent-elect Lula? Lula’s return to pow­er marks a fresh start for democ­ra­cy in Brazil, but it also comes at a time of major geopo­lit­i­cal trans­for­ma­tions. What are the pos­si­bil­i­ties and con­straints for Brazil in a glob­al polit­i­cal are­na marked by the triple crises of the post-COVID econ­o­my, cli­mate change, and height­ened mil­i­tary ten­sions? What is the role of the Brazil­ian judi­cia­ry in the fight against corruption?

Guests fea­tured in this episode:

Ricar­do Regatieri, pro­fes­sor of soci­ol­o­gy at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Bahia, Brazil. He also teach­es in the Grad­u­ate Pro­gram in Social Sci­ences and is one of the lead­ers of PER­IFER­I­C­AS – Research Group on Social The­o­ries, Moder­ni­ties and Colo­nial­i­ties at the same uni­ver­si­ty. Ricar­do was a vis­it­ing pro­fes­sor at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Cape Verde, as well as a research pro­fes­sor at Korea Uni­ver­si­ty and a lec­tur­er at Han­kuk Uni­ver­si­ty, both in Seoul, South Korea. 

Ricar­do has pub­lished wide­ly on crit­i­cal social the­o­ry, moder­ni­ty and colo­nial­i­ty, and democ­ra­cy and author­i­tar­i­an pol­i­tics, and his lat­est research project inves­ti­gates the chal­lenges of depen­den­cy and colo­nial­i­ty to democ­ra­cy and polit­i­cal sta­bil­i­ty in Brazil with­in the cap­i­tal­ist world-system.