Although a Democracy is a well-structured form of government it’s not always the best system for all countries. Some countries do function well without it despite there only being a very few of them to do so. For example, The Czech Republic is a European country who has a Parliamentary Republic and it’s considered to be one of the freest countries in the world. Many citizens in Absolute Monarchy’s are satisfied with the way their government operates, this is mainly because many citizens have the same beliefs and traditions. So not all countries may be suitable or ready to adapt a democratic system, perhaps they are not ready to take that sudden change of direction and disrupt their system’s peace.
However, countries that do have a democratic system must be protected from backsliding, if not it can usually lead to more problems which will likely result to tyrannical rule. Many “new” democratic countries are at probable risk for democratic erosion, this is mostly because they are not as familiar with this new form of government and how to operate it. The U.S has had a democracy for years now but is still finding new ways to improve and strengthen it, after all any democracy can fail or collapse if not protected. Some early signs to watch out for are promissory coups, executive aggrandizement, and the manipulation of elections (in a strategic way), these characteristics are the most common in the early presence of democratic erosion. Impeding such factors will prevent democratic countries from being under an authoritarian ruling system and falling into a systematical chaos.
A country that is at the verge of democratic backsliding is Brazil, during the past recent years Brazil has shown early signs of democratic erosion which can ultimately lead into the shift of governmental regime. For example, Brazil’s President Bolsonaro has strengthened the power of the military greatly in the past few years allowing them to control the streets of Brazil as well as its citizens, he has claimed for it to be for the safety of the people. Such acts seem to be a common example of promissory coups where the leader of the country blinds their country’s citizens with certain promises, only slowly shifting them to an authoritative-like regime. Here the high violence in Brazil has made it seem that President Bolsonaro is doing the right thing by implementing more military/police force but in reality, is trying to limit and control the citizens of Brazil. Bolsonaro has also “worked around the Congress rather than through it, relying more on presidential decrees than any of his predecessors since the return of democracy.” He has even “turned on both the Congress and the Judiciary when either act against him.” Again, he is showing early signs of an authoritarian-like figure, since he’s repeatedly manipulating the governmental system into getting his way. Lastly, President Bolsonaro acts also fit into the description of executive aggrandizement, for instance, Bolsonaro has “threatened press freedom in Brazil by using indirect censorship and has even made aggressive attacks against certain journalists.” here he is slowly breaking and diminishing current democratic laws/rules to assume more power and have the people essentially at the palm of his hand.
Some of the ways Brazil can improve its democratic system is by implementing new rules and regulations thus keeping Bolsonaro’s power limited to a certain extent. Having a strong system of checks and balances can help a great deal in a democracy, this specific system helps identify authoritarian-like characteristic earlier than expected. In the U.S the judiciary branch is a neutral group which decides whether something seems morally correct or wrong. The purpose of judiciary branch is to be its own independent group, so it has no bias opinions and only serves to lookout for best interest of the people and country. Brazil should strengthen its judiciary branch in order to maintain this balance of power, ultimately leading their government into a better direction.
Sources:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bolsonaro-brazil-authoritarian-far-right_n_5e0a3afdc5b6b5a713b24bce
I agree with this paper, however, the author does not take into account that the military was sent to police regions of Brazil where the local/state police are too corrupt to do their jobs, and often work with drug dealers, etc. I am not defending Bolsonaro’s overreach of power by any means, but I do see why he did this in particular. Although I understand the author believes implementing new rules would be a solution, I believe they fail to realize how ineffective and selfish lawmakers in Brazil can be. It is not in their best interest to limit the power of the presidency. Also, the Brazilian judiciary branch is not like the American one, so giving more power to them might not be the best course of action in Brazil’s particular case.