Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-299).

A troubled path to development
Building a fragile democracy
Inflation stabilisation and the transition to neoliberalism
Impacts of neoliberalism
Neoliberalism under the Workers' Party
Developmental neoliberalism and the PT
From glory to disaster
Class and class politics in Brazilian neoliberalism
From the confluence of dissatisfactions to the restoration of neoliberalism
Conclusion: crisis of neoliberalism, crisis of democracy

Brazil is the world's fifth biggest country; it is one of the ten largest economies in the world. But Brazilian society is also horrendously unequal. During the 'pink tide' administrations led by the Workers' Party (2003-16), major efforts were made to redress the economic and democratic deficits in the country; the same administrations also derailed the US-led Free Trade Area of the Americas, and supported policy alternatives to neoliberalism everywhere. Reaction was inevitable. In 2016, President Dilma Rousseff was overthrown, while former President Lula has been subjected to unprecedented persecution. Corruption scandals have gripped the political system; the Brazilian economy, once vibrant, is going through its deepest ever crisis. Alfredo Saad-Filho and Lecio Morais review the paradoxes of modern-day Brazil, and the political and economic transitions that underlie the current crises.