Tulane University
Timothy Power discusses Brazil's Democracy and Presidents Lula and Dilma
January 7th, 2013
On December 5, 2012, Tulane's Center for Inter-American Policy welcomed Dr. Timothy Power, Director of Graduate Studies in Politics at Oxford University. Dr. Power opened his lecture, "Brazilian Democracy from Lula to Dilma," by providing a brief overview of Brazil's political system and a summary of the country's 2010 presidential election. He illustrated how Brazil's political system represents a sort of hybrid between European coalitional politics and American presidentialism, a "coalitional presidentialism" in which two presidential parties lead legislative party coalitions. The 2010 election itself was the largest election in the history of Latin America, though it was not, in Dr. Power's view, a "change election." Instead, the election reflected the desire of most Brazilians to maintain the lines of public policy implemented by Lula da Silva, including the preservation and further development of an important social safety net.
Dr. Power reviewed some of Lula's most salient accomplishments as President of Brazil, including the country's impressive economic record during his tenure. After decades of flat growth, Brazilian GDP finally resumed growth at rates not seen since the 1960s. Furthermore, under Lula's leadership, poverty and inequality decreased dramatically. Dr. Power underscored how Lula's signature social safety net program, Bolsa Familia, became the crowning achievement and legacy of his presidency. Other indicators of the rising standard of living in Brazil under Lula include an explosion of consumer credit and increased access to communication, automobiles, and travel. As an example he mentioned that the number of Brazilian air travellers more than doubled between 2002 and 2010. Altogether this earned Lula and his PT party considerable political clout.
Dr. Power then turned to discuss current president Dilma Rousseff, focusing on the salience of Lula's popularity and legacy for her presidency. In her youth, Dilma was active as part of an armed guerrilla movement that opposed Brazil's military regime. Such political activity led to six years in jail during which she endured torture at the hands of her captors. However, until six months prior to the 2010 election, Dilma was virtually unknown in Brazil and had never held elective office. Dr. Power related how Dilma earned the esteem and confidence of Lula after effectively managing a scandal for the president in 2005. In the months leading to the 2010 election, Lula presented Dilma as his candidate of choice, and she rapidly garnered widespread popularity. In Dr. Power's view, the pervasiveness of Lula's popularity among Brazilians rendered his endorsement of Dilma politically potent and decisive. With Lula's backing, essentially all that Dilma needed to achieve in order to win the presidency was to avoid making mistakes during the campaign, something she accomplished. However, a negative consequence of this is that, unlike Lula, Dilma is not entirely "the author of her own government," and must define her own roadmap and legacy if she is not to remain dependent on Lula's popularity.
-Hannagan Johnson
LATEST SITE UPDATES
EVENTS
- The Traveler and the Ethnographic Ethos in the work of Juan José Saer and Bernardo Carvalho
- The Right to Memory: The Making of São Paulo's Resistance Memorial
- Bruno Bosteels speaks at Loyola University
- Art Syncopation
- MARI Brown Bag: Rebecca Hill and Erlend Johnson
- Virtual Citizens in Cuban Alternative Blogosphere Today
- Nueva Narrativa o Nuevarrativa en el Campo Literario Cubano Actual: La Generación Año Cero
- Rereadings: intellectual, literary and cultural exchange in Luso-Hispanic world
- MARI Brown Bag: Keith Eppich, "Maya Ceramics and the Maya Collapse: the last three centuries of the potting tradition at el Perú-Waka', Guatemala."
- Ideological Incoherence and Ideological Purity in the Mexican Revolution - Dr. Claudio Lomnitz
- Guest Lecture: "Listen to you. Public Hearings at the Commission of Truth and Reconciliation."
- MARI Brown Bag: Viola König
MEDIA
- Roundtable: Social Policy in Latin America since the Left Turn
- Paolo Spadoni: Cuba's Socialist Economy Today
NEWS
- Summer 2014 K-12 Teacher Grant
- Katy Henderson awarded Cuban Heritage Collection Fellowship
- Cuban Ambassador Visits Tulane
- Tulane alumnus elected president of Costa Rica
- CEQ paper published in special issue of Public Finance Review
- Eduardo Silva Invited to Two Presentations: Quito, Ecuador
- Ludovico Feoli discusses upcoming elections and democracy in Central America
- 2014 Maya Symposium Informs Educators, Scholars, and Enthusiasts about Travel in the Ancient Maya World
PEOPLE
BLOG POSTS
Upcoming Events
The Right to Memory: The Making of São Paulo's Resistance Memorial
Kátia Felipini, Coordinator, São Paulo Resistance Memorial, will give a talk entitled “The Right to Memory: The Making of São Paulo's Resistance Memorial.” The talk will be in Portuguese.
The Resistance Memorial is Brazil's first national memorial dedicated to preserving memories of the political resistance and repression that occurred during the civil-military dictatorship that governed the country from 1964 to 1985. Kátia Felipini, who participated as a museologist in developing the memorial and now serves as its coordinator, will discuss the complex process of the memorial's creation and the lessons it offers for other sites in Brazil and around the world. This lecture will be given in Portuguese.
Sponsored by the Center for Scholars, the Stone Center for Latin American Studies, Newcomb-Tulane College, and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. For more information please contact Rebecca Atencio (ratencio@tulane.edu).
The Traveler and the Ethnographic Ethos in the work of Juan José Saer and Bernardo Carvalho
Anderson da Mata, an Assistant Professor of literary theory at Universidade de Brasília, will give a talk entitled “The Traveler and the Ethnographic Ethos in the work of Juan José Saer and Bernardo Carvalho.” The talk will be given in Portuguese.
Anderson da Mata is an Assistant Professor of literary theory at the Universidade de Brasília and author of O silêncio das crianças: representações da infância na narrativa brasileira contemporânea (Londrina: EDUEL, 2010).
Sponsored by Newcomb-Tulane College and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. For more information please contact Rebecca Atencio (ratencio@tulane.edu).
Bruno Bosteels speaks at Loyola University
The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Loyola University presents: “Politics and Violence in Latin America: Democracy in the Criticism of Arms,” a talk by Bruno Bosteels, Professor of Romance Studies at Cornell University. Bosteels is the author of Badiou and Politics, Marx and Freud in Latin America, and The Actuality of Communism, among other works.
For more information on this event, please contact Josefa Salmon at salmon@loyno.edu.
This event is sponsored by the Center for Latin American Studies and the Caribbean, The Languages & Cultures Department at Loyola University, Rev. Scott Youree Watson, Gregory F. Curtin & Rev. Guy Lemieux SJ SAK Distinguished Professorships.
For the event flyer, click here.
The Pebbles Center turns 10!
The Pebbles Center is celebrating its 10th Anniversary! The 10th anniversary falls on Dia, a celebration of children and reading. To celebrate, the Pebbles Center is hosting renowned children’s book author Jorge Argueta. Mr. Argueta was a guest at the inauguration of the Pebbles Center 10 years ago. See photographs from Mr. Argueta’s previous visit here. He will present an interactive presentation based on some of his most recent books.
Jorge Tetl Argueta is a celebrated Salvadoran poet and writer whose bi-lingual children’s books have received numerous awards. A native Salvadoran and Pipil Nahua Indian, Jorge spent much of his childhood in rural El Salvador. He feels that everybody is capable of writing, especially young children who are natural poets! Argueta has written a series of delicious cooking poems perfect for reading while cooking or incorporating food into the classroom. Come out and celebrate with us!
Children and parents will be able to enjoy a wonderful reading and a workshop highlighting the delicious foods found in his books. We will be of course providing snacks as well as be able to distribute a handful of bilingual books donated by the New Orleans Public Library.
El 30 de abril es una fecha muy significativa para los niños. Se celebra el día de los niños y de los libros. Esta celebración se conoce como El día de los niños/ El día de los libros, y celebra la alegría y las maravillas de la infancia y la importancia de los libros en nuestra vida. Ven a celebrar con nosotros el día con autor salvadoreño Jorge Argueta.
Para una lista con la dirreción de todas las bibliotecas, por favor visite la página de web de la biblioteca pública de la Nueva Orleáns.
For more information or if you have questions please contact the Latin American Resource Center at crcrts@tulane.edu or check our Facebook page.
Sponsored by the Stone Center for Latin American Studies, and the New Orleans Public Library.
Photo by Nina Menconi.
Art Syncopation
The Consulate of Mexico in New Orleans and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival are pleased to present an art exhibit of renowned artist Angel Gonzalez de la Tijera entitled “Art Syncopation.” An opening reception will be held on April 22nd at 6 PM. The exhibit will be on display through May 20th.
Angel Gonzalez de la Tijera is an important Mexican Painter and one of the most significant contributors to contemporary figurative Mexican art. His work primarily focuses on figures and portraits in conjunction with music. His art reveals form and substance in a realistic manner.
Gonzalez de la Tijera was born in Mexico City in 1958. He developed his painting style, figurative realism, as a student of master painter Santiago Carbonell.
Copyright © 2014 Roger Thayer Stone Center For Latin American Studies All Rights Reserved.
Tulane University, 100 Jones Hall, New Orleans, LA 70118 (504) 865-5164 rtsclas@tulane.edu