Conservatism in Brazil
As socialism has risen over the past 15 years, Brazilian conservatives have grumbled about high taxes and corruption scandals in two successive leftist presidencies. Now, in a country where “conservative” had been a dirty word since the end of military rule in 1985, conservatism is making a comeback across politics, religion and the arts. The shift is driven by two major phenomena—the rise of evangelical Christianity and growing exasperation with lawlessness—and accelerates a continental trend that has had countries edging away from socialism since the end of the China-led commodities boom. The jailing of former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a leftist icon convicted last year of corruption, marked a new low for Latin American socialism. It effectively removed him from October’s presidential election, and raised the prospects of army captain-turned-congressman Jair Messias Bolsonaro, running on a pro-gun, antiabortion and anti-gay-rights platform.