How Brazil and South Africa became the world's most populist countries.

Pedro_P

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Both nations plagued by political corruption that has eroded faith in democratic institutions.

Jair Bolsonaro, the president of Brazil. Illustration: Guardian Design
▼ The Nova América mall is a gleaming oasis in Rio de Janeiro’s chaotic, densely packed, blue-collar suburbs. It is in a stronghold of the far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, and its customers shed some light on why more Brazilians hold strongly populist views than citizens of any other country.
“There is a lot of stealing. Those in power have everything; the poor have nothing,” said Sylvia Chaves, a 42-year-old army lieutenant, standing outside a clothes shop. Raquel Brandão, 36, an events coordinator, concurred. “Society is divided by corruption,” she said. “Some get a lot, others little.”
Chaves and Brandão were among the 58 million Brazilianswho voted for Bolsonarolast year – no great surprise given that the central plank of his campaign was tackling rampant corruption.
Bolsonaro received 65% of the vote in this district last October. And, according to Brandão: “Many people voted for him in the hope he can end this corruption.”

Supporters of Jair Bolsonaro celebrate in Rio after he was elected president last year. Photograph: Léo Corrêa/AP
It is this seemingly bottomless corruption that has driven huge numbers of Brazilians into the arms of populism, whose central idea is that a nefarious elite is ruling in its own interest, to the detriment of the popular masses.
In an analysis of 19 big countries surveyed by the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project in partnership with the Guardian, no nation had a higher percentage of populists than Brazil.
More than two in five Brazilians were identified as firm populists on the basis of answers to  questions in the survey. That was roughly double the global average, according to the analysis.
Brazil was closely followed by South Africa, where 39% of people held strongly populist views. Both countries have been plagued by years of political corruption that have eroded faith not just in the political class but in democratic institutions, too.
South Africa, which is holding elections next week, has been rocked by a series of massive scandals in recent years, which revealed potential fraud worth billions of dollars. Many centred on a family of businessmen alleged to have exerted improper influence on the former president, Jacob Zuma, and his close associates within the African National Congress (ANC), which has been in power since 1994. Zuma and the associates deny any wrongdoing, but he was forced out by Cyril  Ramaphosa, who became  president of South Africain February last year.
Transparency International placed South Africa73rd on its list of the cleanest countries, behind Belarus and Jamaica. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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nlrnmk66

Populism and freebies to people makes entire system rot...

Pedro_P

nlrnmk66 4-5-2019 03:41 AM
Populism and freebies to people makes entire system rot...

And also demagogy... Populist and demagogic discourses are resources that almost all politicians use (extreme right and leftist), especially when those politicians direct their speeches towards people with a very low IQ and abundant prejudices and intolerances.

KH_Hirsch

Any society which tries to "assign" jobs to people not on qualification but party loyalty or other non-job essential criteria will ultimately drive people that way. If you need to satisfy a few to get your hands on power, wealth or other things you desire that's a perfect way. As we've seen in a numerous places that will ultimately drive economy down and nepotism up. Education and the ability use such qualfications is in my mind the only way to overcome such wrong approaches. Unfortunately too many fall for the quick riches before enduring the pains of learning and the initial shortcomings which are on the way.