Who is afraid of populism?

In the 2018 presidential election, Brazilians faced a difficult choice: on one side, the certainty of a disastrous economic policy, the same one that led to the biggest recession ever seen in Brazil, merged with the biggest corruption scandals ever publicly investigated; on the other, retrograde policies and threats to the country’s democratic institutions, still so fragile in Brazil. It was an atypical election: the main candidate on the Left was arrested due to corruption crimes, the main candidate on the Right was stabbed in the middle was stabbed during an election rally. As in other countries, polls failed to capture the populist appeal of the anti-establishment candidate. Jair Bolsonaro was elected mainly due to his ability to take advantage of the strong opposition to the Workers' Party in the period that followed the corruption scandals and the recession. In 2022, everything indicates that the second round between Bolsonaro and the Workers’ Party will be repeated, now with the left candidate Lula out of jail. This will lead the country, once again, to a choice between right-wing and left-wing populism.

The beginning of the Bolsonaro government was marked by the promise of a “Liberal Spring”, by appointing an avowedly liberal Economy Minister. Already in the first year of the government, however, it became clear that the adoption of the liberal flag was only in speech; in practice, what was seen was, again, the adoption of interventionist policies, merged with a disastrous management of the pandemic. What does this represent for the still incipient liberal movement in Brazil? How to dissociate liberalism from the Bolsonaro government and its illiberal populist policies? Is it still possible to make liberalism popular in Brazil, without succumbing to populism ? To discuss these and other issues, we will have a conversation with Magno Karl, Executive Director of Livres, the Brazilian liberal political movement, and Tiago Mitraud, federal deputy for the Partido Novo, the Brazilian liberal party.

The event will be held in English.