Brazil is recovering its faith in democracy … sort of

In 2017, the Americas Barometer study showed that the percentage of Brazilians who believed democracy was the best form of government reached the dangerously low level of 52 percent. Seventy-eight percent stated they were not satisfied with the functioning of the country’s democracy at the time.

The Americas Barometer study is carried out every two years by Vanderbilt University, in partnership with think-tank Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) in Brazil. It is part of the Latin American Public Opinion Project (Lapop) and seeks to measure the public’s experience with democratic governance across South and Central America.

With the country entering an election year, 2017’s results were worrying. Public demonstrations saw an increasing—yet still marginal—presence of groups calling for military intervention. Jair Bolsonaro launched his presidential campaign with an authoritarian discourse, while praising prominent...