Prof. Rubin Publishes Op-Ed on Brazilian Elections
Prof. Jeffrey W. Rubin, Associate Professor of History, Research Assocaite at the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs (CURA) and affiliated faculty at the Latin American Studies Program (LASP) at the Boston Univeristy Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, believes that whatever the result of the Brazilian elections on October 5, it should be a wake-up call for the country’s business community.
Writing in the Reuters blog ‘The Great Debate’ (October 3, 2014), Prof. Rubin argues that:
The face of power in Brazil is becoming ever more diverse. The top two candidates in Brazil’s presidential race on Sunday are both leftists and women, one of whom is black. They are President Dilma Rousseff of the Workers’ Party and Afro-Brazilian environmentalist Marina Silva. The private sector’s preferred candidate, a white man from Brazil’s once-dominant center-right party, trails in the polls.
If Rousseff and Silva go head-to-head in a run-off, as expected, voters will choose between competing progressive agendas. This would leave the country’s business community without a serious contender for the first time since the country’s transition to democracy in 1985.
Prof. Rubin believes that the changes in the structure of Brazilian politics have been profound and are here to stay:
The country’s politics is moving forward at a dizzying pace, with formerly marginalized groups such as women and blacks participating in ways that were unthinkable under military dictatorship. Through this democratic participation, Brazil is seeking to foster inclusion, lessen the income gap, and promote environmental sustainability.
Brazilian business leaders can’t stop this progress. If they use their economic clout and disproportionate political voice to limit it, they will remain politically marginalized and scrambling to have a say, as they look to be in the presidential election.
Read full text of Prof. Jeffrey Rubin’s article here.