Brazil is a federal republic divided into 26 states and the Federal District (Distrito Federal), the latter including the capital city, Brasília. Since 1934 the nation has had universal suffrage. In 1988 Brazil promulgated a new constitution—the eighth since the country’s independence in 1822—that abolished many traces of the military regime (1964–85), defined civil rights, and outlined the functions of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. It restricted the president’s power to legislate, proscribed government censorship of the arts, condemned the use of torture, prohibited extradition for political crimes, set the minimum voting age at 16 years, and allowed the federal government to intervene in state and local affairs. The constitution has been amended several times since its promulgation, but some of the changes have been temporary, with specifically designated timespans.
Legislative power is exercised by the bicameral National Congress (Congresso Nacional), comprising the Chamber of Deputies (Câmara dos Deputados) and the Federal Senate (Senado Federal). Congress meets every year in two sessions of four and a half months each. The constitution gives Congress the power to rule in matters involving the federal government, particularly those related to fiscal policies and to the administration of the union. Congress also ratifies international treaties negotiated by the executive, authorizes the president to declare war, and decides whether or not the federal government may intervene in the affairs of the states. If the president vetoes a congressional bill or any of its provisions, Congress has 30 days to overrule the veto by an absolute majority vote.
The Chamber of Deputies consists of representatives of the states elected every four years by direct universal suffrage. The number of deputies is in rough proportion to the population of each state, but no state can be represented in the chamber by more than 70 or by fewer than eight deputies. This system grants a disproportionate share of political power to the states of the Northeast and North and severely underrepresents the heavily populated state of São Paulo.
The 81-seat Federal Senate is composed of three representatives from each state and the Federal District who serve eight-year terms. Senatorial elections are held every four years, alternating between one-third (27) and the remaining two-thirds (54) of the seats. Senators are directly elected by the residents of each state.
Executive power is exercised by the president, who is head of state and government, is directly elected to a four-year term (and is eligible for one reelection), and appoints a cabinet of various ministers of state and several other heads of ministerial-level departments. The executive has wide powers, particularly in economic and foreign policy, finances, and internal security. The president can submit bills to Congress and request legislative approval within 30 days; if Congress does not comply within this period, the bill is considered approved. The president can partly or totally veto any bill submitted by Congress in addition to issuing provisional measures that remain in effect for 30-day periods. The president is also commander in chief of the armed forces; in practice, however, civil-military relations in Brazil have never been taken for granted (see Armed forces and security).
The Federal Supreme Brazilian judicial system is divided into two branches: the ordinary branch, made up of state and federal courts, and the special branch, made up of labour, electoral, and military courts.
The Supreme Federal Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal) is Brazil’s highest court. It is composed of 11 members nominated by the president with the approval of the Federal Senate. The court provides final rulings on constitutional issues and hears cases involving the president, the vice president, Congress, the judiciary, the attorney general, government ministers, diplomats, foreign powerscountries, and the political or administrative divisions of the union.
The Federal Superior Higher Court of Justice (Superior Tribunal de Justiça) consists of 33 judges appointed by the president with the approval of the Senate. It is the highest court in the land regarding nonconstitutional matters and also hears cases involving governors of the states and the Federal District, members of the judiciary, and ministers of state. The Court of Appeals is the court of last resort for common pleas. Each state, as well as the Federal District, constitutes a judicial district. The federal judges there preside over cases related to labour unions, public organizations, and some political crimes. Electoral courts ordinary branch also includes federal courts of appeal known as Regional Federal Courts. Each state has state and federal courts that exercise first-instance jurisdiction.
Of the special branch courts, electoral courts are responsible for the registration of political parties and the control of their finances. They also select the date of elections and hear cases involving electoral crimes. Labour courts mediate in conflicts between management and workers, and military courts have jurisdiction in cases involving members of the armed forces.
The Although the Brazilian judicial system has long been criticized for inefficiency, incidents of political favouritism, and widespread corruption; however, proposals for reform efforts have been mired in controversy. Within the nation’s made to reform it, including, most notably, the adoption in 2004 of Constitutional Amendment 45. That amendment established the principal of stare decisis, under which high courts’ decisions were to be considered binding precedents, with the intention of increasing the efficiency of lower courts. The amendment also created the National Council of Justice, an external institution to oversee compliance with judicial rules and to consider complaints against judges. Within the country’s prisons, harsh and overcrowded conditions have often incited mass escape attempts and riots, during which many prisoners have been killed.
The federal government does not provide for separate regional administrations, although it promotes economic growth in the poorer regions through agencies known as the superintendencies for the development of the Northeast, or SUDENE (founded 1959), and of the Amazon region, SUDAM (1966). SUDENE and SUDAM grant federal funds to development projects and oversee tax incentives that are intended to stimulate local and regional investment; however, the policies of the agencies have varied significantly under different federal administrations, and agency functions frequently overlap, especially at the local level.
The states are semi-autonomous with their own constitutions, justice systems, and directly elected governors and legislative assemblies. The Federal District has been administered by a directly elected governor since the 1990s; previously, the president had appointed a mayor (prefeito) to oversee the district.
Brazil is also subdivided into more than 5,000 municipalities (municípios) that are created by the states according to federal guidelines. The municipalities, which are similar to counties and may cover urban or rural zones, have their own fiscal resources and autonomous governments, including directly elected mayors and municipal councillors. Major cities are generally state capitals, and relations between governors and mayors are often pervaded by bureaucratic rivalries.
The current political party system began to emerge in the 1940s under President Getúlio Dorneles Vargas, who established the Social Democratic Party and the Brazilian Labour Party to buffer his weakening administration. A number of other parties were organized and entered elections through the 1950s and early ’60s, but few of them gained much influence. In 1965 the military government, which had taken power the previous year, abolished all political parties and replaced them with a single government party, the National Renewal Alliance, and a lone opposition party, the Brazilian Democratic Movement. The government abolished these two organizations in 1979 and allowed more parties to participate but still under restrictive regulations. After civilian government was restored in 1985, Brazil again legalized all political parties, and a highly fragmented multiparty system emerged, anchored by the Liberal Front Party, the Brazilian Social Democratic Party, the Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement, and the Workers’ Party.
Brazil has the largest army, air force, and navy in South America, accounting for more than 300,000 soldiers—roughly one-third of the region’s total military personnel. Much of its weaponry is made in Brazil, including diesel-powered submarines, jet fighters, air transports, and firearms. In the latter part of the 20th century, Brazil became a leading arms exporter; however, its sales declined in the late 1980s when the Iran-Iraq War ceased and the Soviet bloc began to collapse, and by the mid-1990s Brazil was a net importer of weaponry.
Although the Brazilian president is commander in chief, the nation does not have a long-standing tradition of civil control over the military. Many senior officers, whose careers were rooted in the 1964–85 period of military rule, still consider their institution to be the nation’s ultimate political moderator and the most dedicated guardian of national interests; however, younger officers appear more willing to accept constitutional limitations. Since 1985 Brazil’s democratically elected governments have presided over relatively stable and peaceful conditions and have gradually limited the military’s political influence. In addition, long-standing concerns over the defense of Brazil’s southern borders have largely dissipated as Brazil and Argentina have strengthened their economic ties.
Historically, Brazil’s national defense strategy focused mainly on the compact, developed southern border with Argentina and Uruguay; however, in the 1990s the perceived Argentine threat dissappeared as Brazil and Argentina developed stronger economic ties.The military has partly refocused its efforts on the sparsely populated northern and western borders, which have been threatened by Colombian guerrillas and international drug traffickers (notably those smuggling cocaine from Bolivia and Peru to Colombia). Since 1994 Brazil has invested heavily in monitoring and controlling air traffic and other movement in the Amazon region, particularly in a wide band along the northern border, by coordinating a system of satellites, land-based and airborne radar, weather sensors, and other devices that have both civilian and military value. Increasing numbers of airstrips, garrisons, river patrols, and outposts have also been established or reinforced; however, given the enormous expanses in the region, the military presence there remains largely token.
Most of Brazil’s law enforcement officers are members of the Military Police, whose units are commanded at the state level; the Military Police have operated independently of the armed forces since 1988. Brazil’s plainclothes Civil Police handle investigative work, whereas only a few thousand Federal Police attempt to patrol the nation’s vast sea, air, and land frontiers—a task for which they have long relied on military assistance. Violence and corruption among police are serious concerns in Brazil, exacerbated by low wages and educational attainment. Each year police in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are implicated in hundreds of extrajudicial killings as well as in drug trafficking, kidnapping, theft, and other crimes. Attempts at reform have been frustrated by the sheer number of such incidents and by frequent conflicts between police agencies.
Education is a means to economic success in Brazil: unschooled labourers earn roughly one-fourth the wages of secondary-school graduates, who in turn attain only half the salary of those with university degrees; in addition, unemployment among the college educated is only one-fourth the national average. However, many poor Brazilians must seek work at an early age and thus regard education as a luxury, whereas the nation’s wealthier, well-connected families generally ensure that their children attain higher degrees and better jobs. The government estimates that roughly one-sixth of the adult population (15 years and older) is illiterate, but the actual rate may be much higher.
School is free and compulsory for students at the primary (ages 7–14) and secondary (ages 15–17) levels, but roughly three-fifths of Brazilians have only four years of schooling or less. Approximately nine-tenths of children aged 7–14 are enrolled in school (in contrast to 1960, when only half of the children of that age group attended school). The primary schools of the Northeast, North, and Central-West are smaller and more dispersed and are run by teachers less qualified than those in the South and Southeast. Furthermore, the northern and western schools tend to be financed out of meagre municipal budgets, whereas southern schools are predominantly state-supported. Several states markedly increased educational spending in the mid-1990s, notably Minas Gerais and São Paulo, and overall an increasing number of primary students in Brazil have been continuing on to the secondary level.
Less than three-fifths of students aged 15–17 attend school, and, of those who do, some are still finishing a delayed and interrupted primary education; about half the total number of students are in the Southeast and South. However, secondary-school enrollments increased dramatically in the late 20th century, and the number of annual graduations in the mid-1990s was twice that of the previous decade. Secondary schools have low overall enrollment rates in part because many students are compelled to earn wages at an early age (the federal census records child labourers as young as 10). Other students complete only a short-term vocational program rather than a full three- to four-year curriculum. In addition, most secondary schools are located in large towns, particularly in the Northeast, and rural households with children in city schools incur a considerable financial burden paying for room and board. Many people pursue a high-school equivalency diploma through evening courses after they enter the workforce.
Universities enroll roughly one-ninth University attendance rose dramatically in the 21st century in Brazil, but it remained limited compared with that in most developed countries. Although the number is growing, only a small portion of Brazilians aged 18–24 . Nearly three-fourths of undergraduate students, and an even higher proportion of postgraduate students, are located in the South and Southeast. Compared with developed countries, university attendance is limited in Brazil; higher education remains attended universities. Traditionally, higher education had been largely the prerogative of the wealthy and of the more ambitious members of the middle class. However, in the 1990s , with places in the country’s prestigious free public universities limited to only the highest achievers. As demand for places increased, however, the role of private institutions grew, and by the second decade of the 21st century about three-fourths of undergraduates in Brazil attended private higher educational institutions, though in many cases meeting the cost of their education was a great challenge for these students. Beginning in the 1990s, schools began offering a greater number of weekend and extension courses to accommodate the needs of the upwardly aspiring working class and the lower strata of the middle class.The , and the number of students enrolled in distance learning also increased significantly.
By a large margin most institutions of higher education are located in the south and southeast; however, the Federal District and each of the states has at least one university, although in many cases these are limited to institutions established by the federal government. The largest of the national institutions is the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, which has a campus on an island in Rio’s Guanabara Bay. The universities of Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul are the next largest federal institutions, followed by those of several cities in the Northeast. The University of São Paulo is the largest and most important state university, with the country’s largest graduate student population. Its main campus is in the city of São Paulo; among its branch campuses is an internationally renowned school at Campinas. São Paulo also has a second tier of public campuses much like that of the U.S. state of California. Cândido Mendes University in Rio de Janeiro is among the more notable private schools. The Roman Catholic church administers universities and other schools throughout Brazil.. The largest private university is Paulista University, also located in São Paulo.
The social gap between Brazil’s small privileged upper class and the masses at the bottom of the earnings scale is vast. Sandwiched between them is a substantial and diverse middle class. Because of inflation, salaries are expressed as multiples of the official minimum wage. Nearly two-thirds of the working population earns two minimum salaries or less. About half of the Northeastern workforce earns less than the minimum; in contrast, nearly four-fifths of those in the South and Southeast earn more than five minimum salaries.
Many of Brazil’s health problems stem from widespread undernourishment and endemic diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, dengue, amoebic dysentery, tuberculosis, schistosomiasis, and the dread Chagas disease, which is transmitted by the bite of an insect that infests the walls of wattle-and-daub houses. Most of those diseases are common in lowland areas but rare at higher elevations and in the subtropical climate zones. The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, located in Rio de Janeiro, is Brazil’s major research institute for tropical diseases.
Although most endemic tropical diseases have been eradicated in the major cities, migrants from infected areas have reintroduced some maladies as far south as São Paulo. Poor sanitary and housing conditions exacerbate health risks, particularly among Brazil’s millions of shantytown dwellers, or afavelados, who are concentrated in and around São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and other large cities. In those areas new systems of potable water and sewage have greatly reduced the spread of disease. Government programs and privately supported clinics have been established in many favelas to improve health conditions, particularly prenatal and infant health care.
The majority of workers are covered by various benefits: health and unemployment insurance, retirement and severance pay, obligatory savings plans, and holiday pay. These are paid by the employer to the National Social Security Institute on the workers’ behalf. Brazil customarily spends a greater percentage of its gross national product on social services than it does on its military budget. There are, however, widespread complaints about the administration of the public health system, including the level and quality of benefits provided. The government changed the structure of the system in the 1990s after several officials were implicated in scandals.
Roughly four-fifths of the hospitals in Brazil are public institutions. The ratio of doctors to population is lowest in the North and Northeast but rises progressively through the South and Central-West and is the highest in the Southeast. The largest share of the country’s doctors and hospitals are concentrated in the urban areas. The quality and promptness of services provided also varies greatly; public hospitals, which mainly serve poorer Brazilians, have been criticized for responding slowly to emergencies and otherwise delaying treatments. Numerous state and national agencies operate a variety of health care services, although often with limited programs.