Weekend Roundup: China's Slump Tests Brazil's Democracy

What global interdependence giveth it can also take away. As long as China's economy grew rapidly, as it did over recent decades, the demand for Brazil's iron ore, oil and soybeans generated enough rising prosperity to disguise the cracks in the democratic system of Latin America's largest country. China's slump has now exposed the malignant corruption and mismanagement that festered in the shadows of the "Brazilian miracle," sending the nation into a downward spiral of deep recession, high inflation and burdensome debt. Social unrest and massive demonstrations have regularly filled the streets, culminating in the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff. Animated chart representing China and Brazil's economic relationship. (Getty) Writing from Sao Paulo, Brazil's revered former president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso says, "Brazil has turned a sad page in its history. I would have much preferred that Dilma Rousseff had proved the political and administrative capacity to complete her mandate. Unfortunately the crime of responsibility was compounded by the collapse in her overall ability to govern." But, for Cardoso, Brazil's troubles reflect a larger calamity. Representative democracy is in crisis across the West, he writes. "At the core of this crisis is the widening gap between people's aspirations and the capacity of political institutions to respond to the demands of society. It is one of the ironies of our age that this deficit of trust in political institutions coe...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news