Social Policies in Times of Austerity and Populism: Lessons from Brazil

Featuring the latest research by Brazilian-based scholars previously inaccessible to an English-speaking audience, this book is a timely, authoritative, multidisciplinary overview of social policies in Brazil during the Temer austerity and the Bolsonaro populist presidencies. The breadth of policies studied herein provides clues on the political agenda, preferences, and strategies during this tumultuous period in Brazil’s history. Divided into four parts, Part I is a conceptualization: it brings basic understanding of Brazilian social policies, explains the trajectory of the Brazil political landscape, including the growth of a populist right-wing movement, the economic crisis and the increase in poverty and inequality in Brazil prior, and the threat to democracy brought about by the disinformation ecosystem. Part II discusses social security, social assistance, conditional cash transfers, and healthcare. Part III analyzes the neoliberal strategies to social investment policies, specifically labor, family, and education. In Part IV, the authors turn their attention to non-conventional topics that are not typically included in research on welfare state retrenchment, including the environment and indigenous rights, and police violence and gun control. Social Policies in Times of Austerity and Populism is unhesitatingly recommended to all those who teach welfare state politics, comparative public policy, development studies, Brazilian politics, and right-wing politics.

Table of Contents:
1 Introduction: Elements to reflect on dismantling of social policies in Brazil Natália Sátyro Part I: Contextualization 2 Social policies in Brazil: An introduction Natália Sátyro 3 Political parties, ideological preferences and social policy: Accounting for right-wing strategies in Brazil after the left turn André Borges 4 The political economy of the Brazilian economic crisis (2014–2022): Economic policy, ideas and the limits of neoliberal austerity measures Alexandre Queiroz Guimarães and Marco Flávio da Cunha Resende 5 Disinformation and democracy: The strategies for institutional dismantle in Brazil (2018– 2022) Eliara Santana and Isabele Mitozo 6 Income inequality and poverty in Brazil since re-democratization: An overview Pedro H. G. Ferreira de Souza Part II: Compensatory policies 7 Authoritarian populism and fiscal austerity: The dismantling of social security in Bolsonaro’s government Arnaldo Provasi Lanzara and Fernanda Pernasetti 8 The Unified Health System at risk and the sequelae of the Bolsonaro era José Angelo Machado and Mauro Lúcio Jerônymo 9 Socio-assistance services: One dies of starvation and no one sees Natália Sátyro, Eleonora Schettini Martins Cunha, Bruno R. Pinheiro and Fernanda Silva 10 Non-contributive cash transfers: Borderline social protection Joana Mostafa Part III: Social investment policies 11 Credit- claiming and nondecision-making as an ideological agenda: Did Bolsonaro succeed in changing education policies in Brazil? Sandra Gomes and Catarina Ianni Segatto 12 Brazilian family policies under the neo-conservatism rhetoric of Bolsonaro Gabriel Penna and Natália Sátyro 13 Labor market from 2015 to 2022: Heightened risks and dismantling policies Regina Coeli Moreira Camargos and Pedro M. R. Barbosa Part IV: Policies outside of welfare state traditional scope 14 Opportunities and strategies of the dismantling process of Brazilian environmental policy: Forests and indigenous populations under attack Maria Dolores Lima da Silva and Ana Luiza Martins de Medeiros 15 Disarmament in peril: The Right Wing and the Unraveling of Gun Control Ludmila Ribeiro, Valéria Oliveira, Rafael Rocha and Alexandre Diniz 16 Conclusion: Policies dismantling and system retrenchment Natália Sátyro

About the Author :
Natália Sátyro is Associate Professor of Political Science at Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. She was also the coordinator of Asociación Latinoamericana de Ciencia Política (ALACIP) Public Policy Research Group (GIPP, 2013–2024) and she is the Convenor of International Political Science Association (IPSA, 2023–present) Research Committee on Welfare State and Developing Societies (RC39). Her research interests include welfare state, welfare policy, income transfer programs, income inequality, and political institutions. She teaches and researches in the field of public policies, with emphasis on institutional analysis and social policies in Brazil and Latin America.

Review :
Did years of ultra-right-wing governance dismantle Brazil’s welfare state? In this impressive volume, Natália Sátyro and her colleagues provide an extraordinarily comprehensive and thorough theoretical and empirical treatment of concurrent welfare policy in Brazil. Their analyses conclude that Brazil’s authoritarian populism introduced some policy retrenchments, but the welfare edifice remained resilient against any radical onslaught. This book represents political economy analysis at its very best. Gosta Esping-Andersen, Professor of Sociology at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra Natália Sátyro and her colleagues have delivered an exceptional comparative analysis, shedding light on the deliberate efforts of the populist political right to scale back social policies in Brazil. Their work meticulously delineates the extent and depth of social policy dismantling, while also revealing the conditions and motivations that drive politicians to engage in such actions. This book is an indispensable read for scholars interested not only in understanding the repercussions of populist governance on social policy within Brazil but also its implications on a broader global scale. Michael Bauer, Professor of European University Institute and Jean Monnet Professor of the European Union For scholars and policymakers, this book is an essential resource for understanding the interplay between austerity, populism, and social policy in Brazil, as well as its broader implications for the global rise of the populist radical right. While the book is dense with figures, statistics, and technical financial and economic data, it remains essential reading for anyone interested in these critical issues. Sátyro and her Brazilian colleagues offer valuable insights that are well worth attention. Bulent Kenes, European Center for Populism Studies (ECPS)