Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The Politics of Personality in Brazil

2011; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 22; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/jod.2011.0024

1086-3214

Amaury de Souza,

Populism, Right-Wing Movements

President Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva steered Brazil into an era of economic stability and growth. Under his administration, redistributive social policies lifted thirty-million people out of poverty and the country rose as a player in world politics. Riding his coattails, Workers' Party (PT) candidate Dilma Rousseff, a newcomer to electoral politics, won Brazil's highest office on 31 October 2010 by a 12-point margin over José Serra of the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB). Yet it is debatable whether he created a lasting electoral realignment. Lulismo remains an expression of personalized politics rather than a manifestation of more enduring partisan commitments.