THE CRISIS OF DEMOCRACIES AND THE BRAZILIAN CASE

o Caso Brasileiro

Abstract

This article analyzes the causes and specificities of the crisis of democracy in Brazil by contrasting two interpretative frameworks: the dominant institutionalist approach, represented by authors such as Levitsky and Ziblatt, and the critical approach, with emphasis on the work of Luís Felipe Miguel. It argues that, while the dominant literature is capable of identifying symptoms of democratic degradation—such as the erosion of informal norms, the rise of authoritarianism, and institutional fragility—it fails to explain its structural causes, especially in peripheral and unequal contexts. The critical approach highlights the centrality of social inequalities and neoliberal hegemony as tensions that challenge the egalitarian assumptions of democracy. The article also examines complementary interpretations by Castells, Brown, Fraser, and Dardot et al., and applies this framework to the Brazilian case, focusing on the rise of Jair Bolsonaro and the crisis of Lulism. It concludes that the crises of democracies cannot be fully understood without considering the effects of capitalist order on institutional and representative political structures. In the Brazilian case, the dominance of economic veto over popular vote illustrates the structural limits of liberal democracy in contexts of extreme inequality.

Keywords: crisis of democracy; neoliberalism; contemporary Brazil.