Explaining Brazil #90: One year of Jair Bolsonaro, explained

Jair Bolsonaro. Photo: Marcos Corrêa/PR

On January 1, Jair Bolsonaro was inaugurated as Brazil’s 38th president.

The task ahead of him was a veritable Rubik’s cube—a polarized and deeply unequal country, with a sluggish economy, infrastructure deficiencies, low education performance, and falling investments.

For better or worse, his legacy is still in the making. Notwithstanding, we invited two experts to discuss how the new administration performed on the economic and political fronts.

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On this episode:

Carlos Góes is the Chief Research Officer at Instituto Mercado Popular, a São Paulo-based think tank. Previously, Carlos was a researcher for the International Monetary Fund, he is now finishing a Ph.D. at the University of California in San Diego, and he also served as an economic advisor for the Michel Temer administration.
Claudio Couto is a political scientist, head of Fundação Getulio Vargas’ Masters program in Public Policy and Administration. He also writes as a columnist for The Brazilian Report. Claudio has conducted research on how Brazilian democracy works – and has written numerous papers on Brazil’s 1988 Constitution.

Background reading:

The Brazilian Report has produced an exclusive (and free) eBook analyzing the first year of Jair Bolsonaro’s administration. Click here to download it.
Jair Bolsonaro’s main achievement in year one was passing the pension reform. Expert Pedro Fernando Nery explains the ins and outs of the reform.
Natália Scalzaretto wrote about what to expect from Mr. Bolsonaro’s first budget.
Despite his rhetoric, Jair Bolsonaro promoted some continuity from the previous administration, led by Michel Temer. How did Mr. Temer fare? Marcelo Soares analyzed the numbers.

Explaining Brazil is made by:

Gustavo Ribeiro, editor in chief of The Brazilian Report. He has extensive experience covering Brazilian politics. His work has been featured across Brazilian and French media outlets, including Veja, Época, Folha de S.Paulo, Médiapart, and Radio France Internationale.
Euan Marshall, editing. is a journalist and translator who has lived in São Paulo, Brazil since 2011. Specializing in Brazilian soccer, politics and the connection between the two, his work has been published in The Telegraph, Al Jazeera, The Independent, among others.

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