ABSTRACT
The recession of 2018 as well as the increasing crime rates and corruption scandals elected the far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro president of Brazil. Bolsonaro appeared to be pro US and Israel and hostile towards China, Brazil’s largest commercial partner. Bolsonaro’s rise to power is analyzed by examining economic trends in Brazil. After a decade of economic growth and poverty reduction, Brazil experienced deep recessions. However, a shift in political preference precedes the recession. It is argued that the economic crisis has, in fact, political roots and that destabilizing factors are structural because the deterioration of political equilibrium arose during economic prosperity and institutional stability.
