Brazil, can we still believe in you?

PARIS - For a long time, it has been said that “Brazil is the country of the future,” but somehow that future has never arrived. It has remained the country of samba, carnival and soccer. The transformation of Brazil into a democracy with widely shared prosperity is still a work in progress. Absence of infrastructure is a key issue in the country. But another major impediment to Brazil’s ascent to becoming one of the next economic stars is political corruption. That is not only an obstacle for growth in the country, but it also erodes confidence in democracy itself and undermines the legitimacy of institutions in the society. Nowadays, many Brazilians don’t trust the government, neither the institutions. There is a long tradition of explaining corruption in Brazil as the product of Brazilian culture, an integral feature of Brazilian society. According to this line of thinking, Brazil’s Portuguese colonial heritage created a unique pattern that blurred the distinction between public and private spheres, encouraging corruption. A public composed initially of subjects and slaves accepted the abuses of power with apathy and resignation. Recent stories published in influential Brazilian newspapers and magazines show that deficiencies in accountability, mismanagement of public funds and lack of supervision open the doors for corruption at all levels of public administration. However, in Brazil’s maturing democracy many actors are playing a dynamic role in monitoring, investigating, and punishing corruption. The fight requires the cooperation of institutions across various branches of the government, as well as the private sector and the society at large. Without strong popular pressure, there would be little motivation for the executive or legislative branches of government to aggressively tackle corruption. Still, the main question remains: is it a turning point, or will the country lapse back into a tradition of corruption and indifference? At this point, it is well to recall that Brazil, in spite of the dictatorship, in spite of its past, nonetheless, has consistently been concerned about justice.

#Brasil #corrupção