What is really rotten in Brazil?

The backgrounds of the impeachment process and the current corruption scandals

Brazil is undergoing its biggest political crisis since Re-democratization which most likely will amount to an impeachment process of the current president. Among the routinely alleged reasons for these dynamics stand out the recent corruption scandals which incriminate a a large number of politicians as well as the current economic downturn. But are these really the pivotal points?

Associate Professor of Brazilian Studies Georg Wink and PhD student Mads Damgaard Andersen, both researchers at the Centre of Latin-American Studies and in the Programme of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies at the University of Copenhagen, will scrutinize the underlying assumptions of this explanatory model and probe other factors in play: systemic dysfunctionalities of the political and juridical systems, the politically motivated shaping of realities by the mediascape and the clash of competing economic and societal models in light of the outcome of the last presidential elections in 2014.

All are welcome!