viernes, 17 de enero de 2014

Brazil

Brazil Listeni/brəˈzɪl/ (Portuguese: Brasil, IPA: [bɾaˈziw][8]), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: República Federativa do Brasil, About this sound listen (help·info)),[9] is the largest country in both South America and the Latin American region. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical areaand by population.[10] It is the largest Lusophone country in the world, and the only one in the Americas.[11]
Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of 7,491 km (4,655 mi).[12] It is bordered on the north by Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and the French overseas region of French Guiana; on the northwest by Colombia; on the west by Bolivia and Peru; on the southwest by Argentina and Paraguay and on the south by Uruguay. Numerous archipelagos form part of Brazilian territory, such as Fernando de Noronha, Rocas Atoll, Saint Peter and Paul Rocks, andTrindade and Martim Vaz.[12] It borders all other South American countries except Ecuador and Chile and occupies 47 percent of the continent of South America.
Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500, who claimed the area for Portugal. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808, when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro after French forces led by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Portugal.[13] In 1815, it was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Itsindependence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system. The country became a presidential republic in 1889, when a military coup d'état proclaimed the Republic, although the bicameral legislature, now calledCongress, dates back to the ratification of the first constitution in 1824. An authoritarian military junta had led the nation from 1964 until 1985.[14] Brazil's currentConstitution, formulated in 1988, defines it as a federal republic.[15] The Federation is composed of the union of the Federal District, the 26 States, and the 5,564Municipalities.[15][16]
The Brazilian economy is the world's seventh largest by nominal GDP and the seventh largest by purchasing power parity, as of 2012.[17][18] A member of theBRIC group, Brazil has one of the world's fastest growing major economies, with its economic reforms giving the country new international recognition and influence.[19] Brazil's national development bank (BNDES) plays an important role for the country's economic growth.[20] Brazil is a founding member of theUnited Nations,[21] the G20, CPLP, Latin Union, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the Organization of American States, Mercosul and the Union of South American Nations. Brazil is one of 17 megadiverse countries, home to a variety of wildlife, natural environments, and extensive natural resources in a variety of protected habitats.[12] Brazil is a regional power in Latin America and a middle power in international affairs,[22] with some analysts identifying it as anemerging global power.[23]

Etymology

Main article: Name of Brazil
The word "Brazil" comes from brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast.[24] In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil commonly given the etymology "red like an ember", formed from Latin brasa ("ember") and the suffix -il (from -iculum or -ilium).[25] As brazilwood produces a deep red dye, it was highly valued by the European cloth industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil.[26] Through the 16th century, massive amounts of brazilwood were harvested by indigenous peoples (mostly Tupi) along the Brazilian coast, who sold the timber to European traders (mostly Portuguese, but also French) in return for assorted European consumer goods.[27]
The official name of the land, in original Portuguese records, was the "Land of the Holy Cross" (Terra da Santa Cruz),[28] but European sailors and merchants commonly called it simply the "Land of Brazil" (Terra do Brasil) on account of the brazilwood trade.[29] The popular appellation eclipsed and eventually supplanted the official name. Early sailors sometimes also called it the "Land of Parrots" (Terra di Papaga).[30]
In the Guarani language, an official language of Paraguay, Brazil is called "Pindorama". This was the name the indigenous population gave to the region, meaning "land of the palm trees".[31]

History

Main article: History of Brazil

Precolonial history

See also: Indigenous peoples in Brazil
Engraving representing the Tupinambás'anthropophagy ritual.
The earliest pottery ever found in the Western Hemisphere, radiocarbon-dated 8,000 years old, has been excavated in the Amazon basin of Brazil, near to-day's Santarem, providing evidence that the tropical forest region supported a complex prehistoric culture;[32] the region was inhabited by hundreds of different native tribes, the earliest going back at least 10,000 years in the highlands of Minas Gerais.[33] The territory of current day Brazil had as many as 2,000 tribes, mostly semi-nomadic who subsisted on hunting, fishing, gathering, and migrant agriculture.
The indigenous population of Brazil was divided into large indigenous nations composed of several ethnic groups among which stand out the large groups like Tupis,Guaranis, Gês and Arawaks. The former were subdivided into Tupiniquins and Tupinambás, among many subdivision of the others. The boundaries between these groups and their subgroups, before the arrival of Europeans, were marked by wars between them, arising from differences in culture, language and moral.[34] These wars also involved large-scale military actions on land and water, with ritual cannibalism on POWs.[35][36] While heredity had some weight, leadership status was a more subdued over time, than allocated in succession ceremonies and conventions.[37] Slavery among the Indians had a different meaning than it had for Europeans, since it originated from a diverse socio-economic organization, in which asymmetries were translated into kinship relations.[38]
When the Portuguese arrived in 1500 they saw the natives as noble savages, and miscegenation of the population began right away.[39] Tribal warfare, cannibalism and the pursuit of Amazonian brazilwood for its treasured red dye convinced the Portuguese that they should civilize the indigenous population. But the Portuguese, like the Spanish in their South American possessions, had unknowingly brought diseases with them, against which many indigenous groups were helpless due to lack of immunity. Measles, smallpox, tuberculosis, gonorrhea, and influenza killed tens of thousands.[40] The diseases spread quickly along the indigenous trade routes, and whole tribes were likely annihilated without ever coming in direct contact with Europeans.[41]

Portuguese colonization

Whether they were slaves or freemen, repression in colonial Brazil was relentless againstinsurgents. Here a picture portraying a common practice of that era, the public exposure of the dismembered body of the condemned; in this case,Tiradentes.
The land now called Brazil was claimed for the Portuguese Empire on April 22, 1500, with the arrival of the Portuguese fleet commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral.[42] The Portuguese encountered indigenous peoples divided into several tribes, most of whom spoke languages of the Tupi–Guarani family, and fought among themselves.[43] Though the first settlement was founded in 1532, colonization was effectively begun in 1534, when King Dom João III of Portugal divided the territory into the twelve private and autonomous Captaincy Colonies of Brazil.[44][45] The decentralized and unorganized tendencies of the captaincy colonies proved problematic, and in 1549 the Portuguese king restructured them into the Governorate General of Brazil, a single and centralized Portuguese colony in South America.[45][46] In the first two centuries of colonization, Indigenous and Europeans groups lived in constant war, establishing opportunistic alliances in order to gain advantages against each other.[47][48][49][50] By the mid-16th century, sugar of cane had become Brazil's most important exportation product,[43][51] and slaves purchased in Sub-Saharan Africa, in the slave market of Western Africa[52](not only those from Portuguese allies of their colonies in Angola and Mozambique), had become its largest import,[53][54] to cope with plantations of sugarcane, due to increasing international demand for Brazilian sugar.[40][55]
By the end of the 17th century, sugarcane exports began to decline,[56] and the discovery of gold by bandeirantes in the 1690s, would become the new backbone of the colony's economy, fostering a Brazilian Gold Rush,[57] attracting thousands of new settlers to Brazil, from Portugal and all Portuguese colonies around the World,[58] which in turn caused some conflicts between newcomers and old settlers.[59]
Portuguese expeditions known as Bandeiras gradually advanced the Portugal colonial original frontiers in South America to approximately the current Brazilian borders.[60][61] In this era other European powers tried to colonize parts of Brazil, in incursions that the Portuguese had to fight, notably the French in Rio during the 1560s,in Maranhão during the 1610s, and the Dutch in Bahia and Pernambuco, during the Dutch–Portuguese War, after the end of Iberian Union.[62]
The Portuguese colonial administration in Brazil had two objectives that would ensure colonial order, and the monopoly of its wealthiest and largest colony: both keep under control and eradicate all forms of slaves' rebellion and resistance, such as the Quilombo of Palmares,[63] as well as repress all movements for autonomy or independence, such as the Minas Conspiracy.[64]

United Kingdom

Main article: United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves
In late 1807, Spanish and Napoleonic forces threatened the security of continental Portugal, causing Prince Regent João, in the name of Queen Maria I, to move the royal court from Lisbon to Brazil.[65] There they established some of Brazil's first financial institutions, such as its local stock exchanges,[66] a National Bank, and ended the monopoly of the colony trade with Portugal, opening it to other nations. In 1809, in retaliation for being forced into exile, the Prince Regent ordered the Portuguese conquest of French Guiana.[67]
With the end of the Peninsular War in 1814, the courts of Europe demanded that Queen Maria I and Prince Regent João return to Portugal, deeming it unfit for the head of an ancient European monarchy to reside in a colony. In 1815, in order to justify continuing to live in Brazil, where the royal court had thrived for the past six years, the Crown established the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves, thus creating a pluricontinental transatlantic monarchic state.[68] The Portuguese leaders demanded return of the court to Lisbon, as the Liberal Revolution of 1820 required, and groups of Brazilians still demanded independence and a republic, as the 1817 Pernambucan Revolt showed.[68] In 1821, as a demand of revolutionaries who had taken the city of Porto,[69] D. João VI was unable to hold out any longer, and departed for Lisbon. There he swore oath to the new constitution, leaving his son, Prince Pedro de Alcântara, as Regent of the Kingdom of Brazil.[70]

Independent empire

Main articles: Independence of Brazil and Empire of Brazil
Declaration of the Brazilian independence by the later Emperor DomPedro I on 7 September 1822.
Tensions between Portuguese and Brazilians increased, and the Portuguese Cortes, guided by the new political regime imposed by the 1820 Liberal Revolution, tried to re-establish Brazil as a colony.[71] The Brazilians refused to yield, and Prince Pedro decided to stand with them, declaring the country's independence from Portugal on 7 September 1822. This is now celebrated as Brazil's Independence Day.[72]
On 12 October 1822, Prince Pedro was declared the first Emperor of Brazil and crowned Dom Pedro I on 1 December 1822.[73] A subsequent Brazilian War of Independence spread through northern, northeastern regions and in Cisplatina province.[74] With the last Portuguese soldiers surrendering on 8 March 1824,[75]Portugal officially recognized Brazil on 29 August 1825.[76]
In 7 April 1831, worn down by years of administrative turmoil and political dissensions with both liberal and conservative sides of politics, including an attempt ofrepublican secession,[77] as well as unreconciled with the way that absolutists in Portugal had given to the succession of King John VI, Pedro I went to Portugal toreclaim his daughter's crown, abdicating the Brazilian throne in favor of his five-year-old son and heir (who later became Dom Pedro II).[78]
Brazilian forces (in blue uniform) engage the Paraguayan army (some in red uniform and other shirtless) during the Paraguayan War.
As the new emperor could not exert his constitutional powers until he reached maturity, a regency was set up by the government.[79] In the absence of a charismatic figure who could represent a moderate face of power, during this period a series of localized rebellions took place, as the Cabanagem, the Malê Revolt, the Balaiada, the Sabinada, and the Ragamuffin War, which emerged from the dissatisfaction of the provinces with the central power, coupled with old and latent social tensions peculiar of a vast, slaveholding and newly independent nation state.[80] This period of internal political and social upheaval, which included the Praieira revolt, was overcome only at the end of the 1840s, years after the end of the regency, which occurred with the premature coronation of Pedro II in 1841.[81]
During the last phase of the monarchy, internal political debate was centered on the issue of slavery. The Atlantic slave trade was abandoned in 1850,[82] as a result of the British' Aberdeen Act, but only in May 1888 after a long process of internal mobilization and debate for an ethical and legal dismantling of slavery in the country, was the institution formally abolished.[83]
The foreign affairs in the monarchy were basically related issues with the countries of the Southern Cone with which Brazil has borders. Long after the Cisplatine War, that resulted in independence for Uruguay,[84] Brazil won three international wars during the 58-year reign of Pedro II. These were the Platine War, theUruguayan War and the devastating Paraguayan War, the largest war effort in Brazilian history.[85][86]
On November 15, 1889, worn out by years of economic stagnation, in attrition with the majority of Army officers, as well as with rural and financial elites (for different reasons), the monarchy was overthrown by a military coup.[87]

Early republic

In half of the first 100 years of republic in Brazil, theArmy exercised power directly or through figures designated by it. Getúlio Vargas (center, bald, no hat), for example was the military's confidence man brought to power In October, 1930.
Main articles: República Velha, Estado Novo (Brazil), and Second Brazilian Republic
The "early republican government was little more than a military dictatorship, with army dominating affairs both at Rio de Janeiro and in the states. Freedom of the press disappeared and elections were controlled by those in power".[88] In 1894, following severe military and economic crises, the republican civilians rose to power.[89][90][91]
Little by little, a cycle of general instability sparked by these crises undermined the regime to such an extent, that by 1930 in the wake of the murder of his running mate, the defeated opposition presidential candidate Getúlio Vargas supported by most of the military, led a successful revolt.[92][93] Vargas was supposed to assume power temporarily, but instead closed the Congress, extinguished the Constitution, ruled with emergency powers and replaced the states' governors with his own supporters.[94][95]
In the 1930s, three major attempts to remove Vargas and his supporters from power occurred: in the second half of 1932, in November 1935, and in May 1938.[96][97][98] Being the second one, the communist revolt which served as an excuse for the preclusion of elections, put into effect by a coup d'état in 1937, which made the Vargas regime a full dictatorship, noted for its brutality and censorship of the press.[99]
In foreign policy, the success in resolving border disputes with neighboring countries in the early years of the republican period,[100] was followed by a failed attempt to exert a prominent role in the League of Nations,[101] after its involvement in World War I.[102][103] In World War II Brazil remained neutral until August 1942, when the country entered on the allied side,[104][105] after suffering retaliations undertaken by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, due to the country having severed diplomatic relations with them in the wake of the Pan-American Conference.[106]
With the allied victory in 1945 and the end of the Nazi-fascist regimes in Europe, Vargas's position became unsustainable and he was swiftly overthrown in another military coup, with Democracy being "reinstated" by the same army that had discontinued it 15 years before.[107] Vargas committed suicide in August 1954 amid a political crisis, after having returned to power by election in 1950.[108][109]

Contemporary era

Main articles: Brazilian military government and History of Brazil since 1985
Several brief interim governments succeeded after Vargas's suicide.[110] Juscelino Kubitschek became president in 1956 and assumed a conciliatory posture towards the political opposition that allowed him to govern without major crises.[111] The economy and industrial sector grew remarkably,[112] but his greatest achievement was the construction of the new capital city of Brasília, inaugurated in 1960.[113] His successor was Jânio Quadros, who resigned in 1961 less than a year after taking office.[114] His vice-president, João Goulart, assumed the presidency, but aroused strong political opposition[115] and wasdeposed in April 1964 by a coup that resulted in a military regime.[116]
Lula da Silva, President from 2003-11, saw Brazil attain theworld's 6th largest GDP.
The new regime was intended to be transitory[117] but it gradually closed in on itself and became a full dictatorship with the promulgation of the Fifth Institutional Act in 1968.[118] The repression was not limited only to those who resorted to guerrilla tactics to fight the regime, but also reached institutional opponents, artists, journalists and other members of civil society,[119][120] inside and outside the country (through the infamous "Operation Condor").[121][122] Despite its brutality, like other totalitarian regimesin history, due to an economic boom, known as an "economic miracle", the regime reached its highest level of popularity in the early 1970s.[123]
Slowly however, the wear and tear of years of dictatorial power that has not slowed the repression, even after the defeat of the leftist guerrillas,[124] plus the inability to deal with the economic crises of the period and popular pressure, made it inevitable an opening policy, which of the regime side was led by Generals Geisel and Golbery.[125]With the enactment of the Amnesty Law in 1979, Brazil began to slowly return to democracy, which would be completed along the 1980s.[81]
Civilians returned to power in 1985 when José Sarney assumed the presidency, becoming unpopular during his tenure due his failure in control the economic crisis and hyperinflation inherited from the military regime.[126] Sarney's unsuccessful government allowed the election in 1989 of the almost unknown Fernando Collor, who was subsequently impeached by the National Congress in 1992.[127] Collor was succeeded by his Vice-President Itamar Franco, who appointed Fernando Henrique Cardoso as Minister of Finance. In 1994, Cardoso produced a highly successful Plano Real,[128] that after decades of failed economic plans made by previous governments attempting to curb hyperinflation, finally granted stability to the Brazilian economy,[129][130] leading Cardoso to be elected that year, and again in 1998.[131]
The peaceful transition of power from Fernando Henrique to his main opposition leader, Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, who was elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2006, proved that Brazil had finally succeeded in achieving its long-sought political stability.[132] Lula was succeeded in 2011 by the current president, Dilma Rousseff, the country's first woman president and as such one of the most powerful women in the world.[133][134]

Present

President Dilma Rousseff during the national pronouncement to the Brazilian people on TV.
In June 2013, following the viral phenomenon of worldwide manifestations (such as the "Arab Spring", the "Occupy Wall Street" and the "Spanish Indignados"),[135]numerous protests erupted in Brazil. For days, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in several cities to protest.[136] Initially a movement against the increase in public transport fares, it assumed gigantic proportions, sparked by the excessive use of force by the state polices, turning into a series of hugedemonstrations by groups and individuals, angry about a range of issues (including new stadium projects for international sports events, demands on quality ofpublic services, anger about corruption, and opposition to a constitutional amendment proposal, PEC 37, which is interpreted by some as an attempt to curb repression of corruption[137][138]). Thus it became a movement containing conflicting ideologies, with so far no single political agenda nor recognizableleadership.[139][140][141] In part due to this lack of a clear political agenda and recognisable leadership, as well as increasing vandalism and manipulation by the press, the movement later subsided.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Brazil
Topographic map of Brazil
Brazil occupies a large area along the eastern coast of South America and includes much of the continent's interior,[142] sharing land borders with Uruguay to the south; Argentina and Paraguay to the southwest; Bolivia and Peru to the west; Colombia to the northwest; and Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana to the north. It shares a border with every South American country except for Ecuador and Chile. It also encompasses a number of oceanic archipelagos, such as Fernando de Noronha, Rocas Atoll, Saint Peter and Paul Rocks, and Trindade and Martim Vaz.[12]Its size, relief, climate, and natural resources make Brazil geographically diverse.[142] Including its Atlantic islands, Brazil lies between latitudes 6°N and34°S, and longitudes 28° and 74°W.
Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, and third largest in the Americas, with a total area of 8,514,876.599 km2 (3,287,612 sq mi),[143] including 55,455 km2 (21,411 sq mi) of water.[12] It spans three time zones; from UTC-4 in the western states, to UTC-3 in the eastern states (and the official time of Brazil) and UTC-2 in the Atlantic islands.[144] Brazil is the only country in the world that lies on the equator while having contiguous territory outside the tropics. Brazilian topography is also diverse and includes hills, mountains, plains, highlands, and scrublands. Much of the terrain lies between 200 metres (660 ft) and 800 metres (2,600 ft) in elevation.[145] The main upland area occupies most of the southern half of the country.[145] The northwestern parts of the plateau consist of broad, rolling terrain broken by low, rounded hills.[145]
The southeastern section is more rugged, with a complex mass of ridges and mountain ranges reaching elevations of up to 1,200 metres (3,900 ft).[145] These ranges include the Mantiqueira and Espinhaço mountains and the Serra do Mar.[145] In the north, the Guiana Highlands form a major drainage divide, separating rivers that flow south into the Amazon Basin from rivers that empty into the Orinoco River system, in Venezuela, to the north. The highest point in Brazil is the Pico da Neblina at 2,994 metres (9,823 ft), and the lowest is the Atlantic Ocean.[12]
Brazil has a dense and complex system of rivers, one of the world's most extensive, with eight major drainage basins, all of which drain into the Atlantic.[146] Major rivers include the Amazon (the world's second-longest river and the largest in terms of volume of water), the Paraná and its major tributary the Iguaçu (which includes the Iguazu Falls), the Negro, São Francisco, Xingu, Madeira and Tapajósrivers.[146]

Climate

Main article: Climate of Brazil
Tropical climate in Fernando de Noronha, Pernambuco.
The climate of Brazil comprises a wide range of weather conditions across a large area and varied topography, but most of the country is tropical.[12] According to the Köppen system, Brazil hosts five major climatic subtypes: equatorial, tropical, semiarid, highland tropical, temperate, and subtropical. The different climatic conditions produce environments ranging from equatorial rainforests in the north and semiarid deserts in the northeast, to temperate coniferous forests in the south and tropical savannas in central Brazil.[147]Many regions have starkly different microclimates.[148][149]
An equatorial climate characterizes much of northern Brazil. There is no real dry season, but there are some variations in the period of the year when most rain falls.[147] Temperatures average 25 °C (77 °F),[149] with more significant temperature variation between night and day than between seasons.[148]
Over central Brazil rainfall is more seasonal, characteristic of a savanna climate.[148] This region is as extensive as the Amazon basin but has a very different climate as it lies farther south at a higher altitude.[147] In the interior northeast, seasonal rainfall is even more extreme. The semiarid climatic region generally receives less than 800 millimetres (31.5 in) of rain,[150] most of which generally falls in a period of three to five months of the year[151] and occasionally less than this, creating long periods of drought.[148] Brazil's 1877–78 Grande Seca (Great Drought), the most severe ever recorded in Brazil,[152] caused approximately half a million deaths.[153] The one from 1915 was devastating too.[154]
South of Bahia, near the coasts, and more southerly most of the state of São Paulo, the distribution of rainfall changes, with rain falling throughout the year.[147] The south enjoys subtropical conditions, with cool winters and average annual temperatures not exceeding 18 °C (64.4 °F);[149] winter frosts and snowfall are not rare in the highest areas.[147][148]

Biodiversity

Main articles: Wildlife of Brazil and Deforestation in Brazil
The Amazon rainforest, the richest and most biodiverse rainforest in the world.
The jaguar is a wild animal typical of Brazil, mainly in the Amazon jungle.
Brazil's large territory comprises different ecosystems, such as the Amazon rainforest, recognized as having the greatest biological diversity in the world,[155] with the Atlantic Forest and the Cerrado, sustaining the greatest biodiversity.[156] In the south, theAraucaria pine forest grows under temperate conditions.[156] The rich wildlife of Brazil reflects the variety of natural habitats. Scientists estimate that the total number of plant and animal species in Brazil could approach four million.[156]
Larger mammals include pumas, jaguars, ocelots, rare bush dogs, and foxes; peccaries, tapirs, anteaters, sloths, opossums, andarmadillos are abundant. Deer are plentiful in the south, and many species of New World monkeys are found in the northern rain forests.[156][157] Concern for the environment has grown in response to global interest in environmental issues.[158] Brazil's Amazon Basin is home to an extremely diverse array of fish species, including the red-bellied piranha. Despite its reputation as a ferocious freshwater fish, the red-bellied piranha is actually a generally timid scavenger. Biodiversity can contribute to agriculture, livestock, forestry and fisheries extraction. However, almost all economically exploited species of plants, such as soybeans and coffee, or animals, such as chicken, are imported from other countries, and the economic use of native species still crawls. In the Brazilian GDP, the forest sector represents just over 1% and fishing 0.4%.

Environment

See also: Conservation in Brazil
The natural heritage of Brazil is severely threatened by cattle ranching and agriculture, logging, mining, resettlement, oil and gas extraction, over-fishing, wildlife trade, dams and infrastructure, water pollution, climate change, fire, and invasive species.[155] In many areas of the country, the natural environment is threatened by development.[159] Construction of highways has opened up previously remote areas for agriculture and settlement; dams have flooded valleys and inundated wildlife habitats; and mines have scarred and polluted the landscape.[158][160] At least 70 dams are said to be planned for the Amazon region, including the controversial Belo Monte hydroelectric dam.[161]

Government and politics

Main articles: Politics of Brazil, Federal government of Brazil, and Elections in Brazil
The Brazilian Federation is the "indissoluble union" of the States, the Municipalities and the Federal District.[15] The Union, the states and the Federal District, and the municipalities, are the "spheres of government."
The current Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff, receiving the presidential sash fromLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 1 January 2011.
The Federation is set on five fundamental principles:[15] sovereignty, citizenship, dignity of human beings, the social values of labour and freedom of enterprise, and political pluralism. The classic tripartite branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial under a checks and balances system), is formally established by the Constitution.[15] The executive and legislative are organized independently in all three spheres of government, while the judiciary is organized only at the federal and state/Federal District spheres.
All members of the executive and legislative branches are directly elected.[162][163][164] Judges and other judicial officials are appointed after passing entry exams.[162] For most of its democratic history, Brazil has had a multi-party system, proportional representation. Voting is compulsory for the literate between 18 and 70 years old and optional for illiterates and those between 16 and 18 or beyond 70.[15]
National Congress of Brazil, seat of thelegislative branch.
Together with several smaller parties, four political parties stand out: Workers' Party (PT), Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), and Democrats (DEM). Fifteen political parties are represented in Congress. It is common for politicians to switch parties, and thus the proportion of congressional seats held by particular parties changes regularly.[165] Almost all governmental and administrative functions are exercised by authorities and agencies affiliated to the Executive.
The form of government is that of a democratic republic, with a presidential system.[15] The president is both head of state and head of government of the Union and is elected for a four-year term,[15] with the possibility of re-election for a second successive term. The current president is Dilma Rousseff who was inaugurated on 1 January 2011.[166] The President appoints the Ministers of State, who assist in government.[15] Legislative houses in each political entity are the main source of law in Brazil. The National Congress is the Federation's bicameral legislature, consisting of the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate. Judiciary authorities exercise jurisdictional duties almost exclusively.
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