August 16, 2006
Brazilian Politics 101
The following, from Guardian Unlimited, is one of the best summaries of Brazilian politics that I have ever seen:Brazilian politics has traditionally been heavily clientelistic and corrupt. There are a plethora of small rightwing parties, bound together for purely opportunistic reasons, whose representatives frequently defect to other parties for personal gain. The mensalao scandal was a direct result of the strategy of making alliances with these parties, and a part of the reason why PSDB have not been able to fully capitalise on it is that they have faced accusations of similar behaviour in the past. Brazilians' weary cynicism about their politicians is summed up by the phrase "roubo mas faz" - "he steals, but he gets things done".
Comment is free: Brazil's big problem
The rest of the article is worth reading as well.Posted by Andrew on August 16, 2006 8:17 AM.
Comments
Posted by: LDM at August 23, 2006 9:14 AM
There...quoted it and linked it. Thanks for the heads up! Also, thanks for thinking that I could actually come up with something like that.
Posted by: Andrew at August 23, 2006 10:58 AM
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You should have the source of the quote included here, otherwise we might be tempted to attribute it to A. Comings!