Politics books of 2023 – 12/30/2023 – Celso Rocha de Barros

One of the greatest Brazilian political scientists wrote a book aimed at the general public. In “Operação Impeachment: Dilma and the Brazil of Lava Jato”, Fernando Limongi showed that the 2016 impeachment, which took place at the height of Lava Jato’s influence, was, in fact, a reaction of the political system against the operation.

The ten years of the June 2013 protests generated great books. In “Thirteen: Street Politics from Lula to Dilma”, Angela Alonso placed the June 2013 protests in the context of a broader wave of social mobilization, which from the beginning included conservative protests. In “The Reason for Centavos: Urban Crisis, Democratic Life and the 2013 Revolts”, Roberto Andrés told the story of the fight for free passes, which recently achieved surprising successes.

In “How China Escaped Shock Therapy”, Isabella Weber reconstructed the debates that gave rise to the gradualist strategy that China adopted to become a market economy.

In “Salazar and Fascisms”, Fernando Rosas compared differences and similarities between Portuguese fascism and its European counterparts, highlighting the alliances between popular fascism and elite conservatism.

In “How to Save Democracy,” Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt showed how American institutions, if not reformed, can foster democratic erosion and transform American democracy into minority rule.

In “The Supreme Between Law and Politics”, Diego Werneck Arguelhes presented the main debates about the STF, its relationship with politics, and the ways in which it could work better.

In “The Discreet Charm of Magistocracy”, Conrado Hübner Mendes showed that defects in our Judiciary made it an easy target when Bolsonarism launched its offensive against democracy.

In “O Tribunal”, Felipe Recondo and Luiz Weber told the story of the STF’s resistance against Bolsonaro’s coup, and how, in the course of these struggles, the ministers overcame some of the vices previously highlighted by their critics.

In “Biography of the Abyss”, Felipe Nunes and Thomas Traumann warned, based on quantitative and qualitative research, of the risk of political polarization in recent years becoming a permanent feature of Brazilian politics.

In “O Girassol que Nos Us”, Oscar Pilagallo told the story of the Diretas Já! movement, which helped to open fissures in a democratic transition led from above.

In “Amazônia na Encruzilhada”, Miriam Leitão offered a broad picture of the fight to preserve the Amazon, the successes of the New Republic, the failures of Bolsonaro, and the challenges of preserving our greatest ecological heritage at a time when deforestation and crime are on the rise. increasingly connected.

“Racial Discrimination Numbers”, organized by Michael França and Alysson Portella, is a great collection of economic studies on racial inequality in Brazil. It should serve as a starting point for many future debates on the topic.

Marcelo Medeiros is one of the greatest experts on Brazilian inequality. In “The Rich and the Poor”, he showed, in a way accessible to the general public, that the numbers of Brazilian inequality scare even those who already know that it is large; and that a wide repertoire of strategies will be needed to reduce it. It’s the book of the year.

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