The New York Times published an article that cited a recent paper written by PhD Fellow Natán Skigin and former PhD Fellow Camilo Nieto-Matiz. The article examines the resilience of Brazilian democracy despite the efforts of supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro, and cites findings from “Why programmatic parties reduce criminal violence: Theory and evidence from Brazil,” published in the journal Research and Politics.
Their research showed that when programmatic parties won elections, local homicide rates immediately fell. But when clientelistic parties won, violence in their districts actually got worse. Over time, when clientelistic parties were elected, the process might also reduce the power of violent groups, which gave the author hope, saying this makes the current situation in Brazil “look less like an episode of democratic crisis, and more like turbulence on a long, slow and still incomplete trajectory of democratization.”