Brazil's flawed impeachment of Dilma Rousseff
After a largely successful—especially in light of almost insultingly low expectations—Olympics, Brazil is now abruptly pulled back to reality. The end of Olympics revelry coincided with the tempestuous final stretch of former President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment trial, and the general atmosphere in Brazil has taken an unenviable 180-degree turn.
Brazil's fourth democratically elected president since the end of the military dictatorship was officially removed from office on Wednesday afternoon. Her impeachment has been lauded and derided both within Brazil and abroad, with her supporters denouncing the proceedings as a "judicial coup d'état" and her opponents hailing the process as a victory for Brazilian democracy.
Both theses, however, are deeply flawed.
On the one hand, likening an impeachment trial that has—at least nominally—followed codified legal procedures to a coup is tactless, particularly given Brazil's sensitive history and the loaded significance that word carries in the country. On the other hand, to extol Rousseff's ouster as evidence of Brazil's robust rule of law entails glossing over a host of glaring irregularities and the greater context of the impeachment proceedings.
Dilma's administration was marked by a few key wins and quite a few more shows of ineptitude. Lacking the charisma and political wherewithal of her predecessor, Dilma was perhaps the worst imaginable choice to tackle the myriad problems that would soon arise after years of countercyclical economic policy. By the time President Lula's unbridled spending during Brazil commodities bonanza began to show its limitations, he was already out of office, and left to preside over the country's hangover was a timid Rousseff. Instead of swiftly implementing austerity measures to stem Brazil's ballooning fiscal deficit, Dilma displayed a degree of inertia that exacerbated the country's problems and alienated her from opponents and even allies in Congress. By the time she belatedly announced an austerity plan after her re-election, a fiercely antagonistic legislature had rendered her effectively impotent.
It is exceedingly clear that Dilma was not a "good" president, and she had the single-digit approval ratings to prove it. Though the opposition was poised for a smooth victory in the next elections, waiting until 2018 seemed an unappealing prospect when a vote of no confidence could quickly free Brazil from an unpopular administration.
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/294012-brazils-flawed-impeachment-of-dilma-rousseff
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