Neoliberalismo e democracia na América Latina: o caso recente do Brasil

Abstract

The Latin American redemocratization period was marked by the rise of neoliberalism as the hegemonic economic doctrine. After visible failure in the so-called "advanced capitalism countries", neoliberalism proved to be a crucial tool in the process of transferring the capitalism crisis – that shows its signs since the 1970s – to the periphery of the World-system. Socially fragilized and highly indebted in the post-dictatorial context, Latin American states accept the central impositions of fiscal austerity and economic liberalization as a condition to the provision of loans by international organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The results were catastrophic, especially for the poorest parts of the population. The greatest and most devastating consequence, however, was the establishment of a way of socio-political organization deprived of any democratic values, which serves in the disciplining of peripheral populations whose rights and decent living conditions are taken from them as their nations are embedded in neoliberal dynamics. Such way of organization was referred by the Ecuadorian writer Pablo Dávalos as democracia disciplinária (disciplinary democracy). This paper seeks to present the democratic rupture that occurred in the Brazilian political scene, represented by the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff in 2016, as the repercussion of such disciplinary democracy. In this new way of coup d'état, a political maneuver is presented as a juridical necessity in order to achieve the necessary consensus for its approval, demonstrating the impotence of the population when facing the impositions of the power-holding elite, indicating the weakness of the Latin American democracies facing the deepening of neoliberalism in the region. Such evaluation was made through bibliographical review of books, articles – academic and non-academic – and news broadcasted in the mainstream media as well as alternative media. Finally, the analysis of official reports made by the World Bank to the Latin American subcontinent and to Brazil specifically allowed the understanding of the usefulness of the organism as an accessory to the spread of the neoliberal ideology in the country and the maintenance of the international economic relations status quo.