12.7: Third Wave Democratization - Latin America

Global Democratization: The Third Wave

In the 1900s there have been three democratic waves. The first two occurred in the aftermath of each world war. In the 1970s, most of the world’s governments were dictatorships of some sort. However, by the 1990s democratization took root in Eastern Europe, Latin America, and parts of East Asia and Africa. Additionally, more and more governments promoted racial equality. Africans and the African Diaspora were at the center of this democratic wave.

There are six factors that account for this wave of democratization and equal rights. First, the global movement for racial equality gained momentum after World War II. The Allies repeatedly stressed that the Axis powers needed to be defeated because the Nazis and the Japanese fascists promoted racism. This Allied propaganda spread the idea that a new world order needed to be established based on the principles of racial equality. The US civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s achieved major gains including civil rights and enfranchisement of African Americans in the South. Additionally, more and more African countries gained independence from European rule.  Black pride was embraced in both Africa and the African Diaspora in the Americas. Second, there were also religious movements that pushed for democratization beginning in the 1960s. The Catholic Church and some of the Protestant churches more and more stressed social justice and became critical of authoritarian rule. Third, there was substantial economic growth globally in the aftermath of World War II. This growth generated a larger non-white middle class who would serve as the leaders for democratization and racial equality. Fourth, there was an increase in education and mass media. By the 1970s, there was a large literate public that joined the calls for democratization and racial equality. Fifth, a major economic recession occurred in the 1970s. Economic recessions in and of themselves do not bring about democratization, but they do de-legitimize the governments that are in power. At this time, the autocratic governments faced more protests and calls for political change as unemployment levels increased and wages dropped. Sixth, the end of the Cold War brought in more democratic governments. Most of the autocracies claimed legitimacy by stating that they were fighting communism and received US support for this.  Opponents of the autocracies often worked with communists and received aid from the Soviet Union. They were typically labeled communists by the USA and the autocratic governments in power.  In figure 12.7.1, US President Richard Nixon is meeting with a US ally, Brazilian dictator General Emilio G. Medici in 1971. Why would the US government support a military dictator like Medici? With the communist threat gone by the late 1980s, opponents to autocracy were seen as less dangerous and the USA supported the transition to democracy.  All of these factors brought democracy and greater racial equality to Brazil and South Africa.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Richard Nixon and Emilio G. Medici by Byron E. Schumaker, US National Archives, in the Public Domain

Racism and Civil Rights Activism in Brazil 

During the 1900s, a small white minority in Brazil controlled the government and the economy. This white political, economic, and social domination prevented a full national debate regarding racism in Brazil. The myth was perpetuated that racism did not exist in Brazil and that Brazil, in contrast to the USA, was a “racial democracy.” In fact, Blacks who criticized racial discrimination were accused of being racist. For more than one hundred years since the abolition of slavery, there were few known nationally influential black activists, politicians, scholars, and government officials. Furthermore, the education system minimized the Afro-Brazilian contribution to Brazilian history, culture, and society. Brazilian schools promoted European superiority.  Until recently, the majority of the elite continued to believe that dark skinned Brazilians could not rise on the socio-economic scale because of barriers to class not race. Since these barriers also existed for whites, the government did not recognize racism in Brazil.

Nevertheless, during the 1950s the idea that Brazil was a racial democracy had been undermined.  Racism in Brazil received international exposure when a US Black dancer, Katherine Dunham, complained about being refused accommodation in a Sao Paulo hotel in 1951. The government passed a law prohibiting racial discrimination in public accommodations, but there was no effort to enforce this. Beginning in the 1950s, the United Nations supported research that sought to show how a racial democracy such as Brazil functioned but concluded otherwise.  Afro-Brazilians were found at the bottom of the socio-economic scale by every indicator including income, occupation, and education. Social scientists began to examine the conditions and consequences of racial prejudice in Brazil. This has been driven by the discrepancy between claims of racial democracy and the chronic poverty and discrimination of Afro-Brazilians.  However, at this time Brazil had a semi-democratic political system where illiterates could not vote and millions of Afro-Brazilians were illiterate. The government did not address racial inequality in any meaningful way.

There were two phases of the Afro-Brazilian equality movement. The first began in the early 1930s and promoted social whitening as well as an appreciation for African cultural forms. At this time, white elites claimed that the Portuguese component was dominant in Brazilian national culture.  After World War II racist doctrines had been discredited and movements for national independence began in Asia and Africa. Whitening in Brazil ceased to be a respectable goal. By the 1960s, the emphasis had shifted to the notion that racism rather than some form of cultural defect among Afro-Brazilians was to blame for a social structure in which the vast majority of blacks occupied the lowest rung. African and Afro-Brazilian culture was no longer perceived as something that was exotic and worthy of preservation but as a cultural form equal to European culture as well as a source of pride.

The semi-democratic Brazilian government was overthrown in a US-supported military coup in 1964. The Brazilian military and the US believed that the government was not sufficiently anti-communist. So, an anti-Communist military dictatorship was established. This new government repealed civil rights and dissolved all political parties. Then, the military established an official party and a legal opposition party whose ranks were carefully screened to exclude “subversives.” The opposition party had no real power. The government used systematic torture on anyone who posed a threat and hundreds were executed. The economic policies were aimed at making Brazil an industrial nation. However, Brazil did not overcome economic development. Brazilian factories produced low-quality goods that were not competitive globally. So, Brazil remained an exporter of low-value agricultural goods but imported expensive machinery, equipment, and technology. As a result, government debt went up substantially.

Democratization and Civil Rights in Brazil 

A number of factors brought down the military dictatorship in Brazil. Beginning in the 1970s, several Afro-Brazilian activist groups were formed which championed racial equality and democratization. Overall, US Black activist movements have served as a model for more radical Afro-Brazilian movements. There was also a global Black Pride movement, and Blacks in Brazil increasingly took pride in being Afro-Brazilian.  In 1978, black activists created the Unified Black Movement to protest racism and discrimination. It fought against the dictatorship and the myth of racial democracy. The Unified Black Movement sought to rewrite Brazilian history from the black perspective. There were other smaller black equal rights organizations founded in the 1970s and 1980s as well. Middle-class Afro-Brazilians experienced a high level of frustration because they were denied access to high society because of their race. For example, they faced exclusion from all-white social clubs. These middle-class Afro-Brazilians were the first to acquire a strong sense of black consciousness. Also, the leaders of the Catholic Church met at this time and agreed that the Catholic Church needed to work to improve the lives of Catholics.  By the 1970s, the Catholic Church in Brazil increasingly embraced a doctrine known as Liberation Theology which called for social justice for the poor and an end to the anti-communist dictatorships in Latin America.

In 1980 the Brazilian economy slowed and inflation increased.  A global depression created problems as the prices of Brazilian agricultural products declined. Industry came to a halt, because Brazil could not import the necessary machinery and equipment to keep factories going. Unemployment, inflation, and poverty increased substantially. More and more Afro-Brazilians left the countryside, but there were few economic opportunities in the cities. By 1982, the government defaulted on its debt, and there was a major economic crisis in Brazil.  The government was forced to cut back on social spending geared toward the poor such as education, housing, and healthcare.  As a consequence, massive demonstrations pressured for democratic elections and generals who supported a democratic transition took control of the government.  Communism did not loom as a major threat, because most urban workers supported a non-Communist political party, the Workers’ Party (PT). This new government lifted censorship of the press, restored civil rights, and allowed the opposition to organize. There were then direct elections for state governors, federal deputies, a third of all senators and other local offices.  The opposition party candidate, Tancredo Neves, defeated the pro-government Social Democratic Party and won the presidency in 1985. Then, the national congress in 1988 wrote a new democratic constitution that provided for universal suffrage and popular elections of the president. Those who were illiterate were granted the right to vote which enfranchised millions of Afro-Brazilians for the first time. Civil rights were also guaranteed.

Since the 1980s, black activists in Brazil convinced leaders in the national and local governments that that racism needed to be addressed. Afro-Brazilian groups advocate affirmative action, quotas, and other public policies to break the white monopoly on power. Some whites are joining blacks, and political parties for the first time have pledged to fight racial discrimination in their platforms. For the most part, the major political parties have Black caucuses and publicly criticized racism in Brazil. However, there has only been incremental successes. In 2003 the national government passed a law requiring the teaching of African and Afro-Brazilian history and culture.  For the first time, a significant number of Afro-Brazilians are now attending public universities, but levels of poverty among Afro-Brazilians are higher than for other races. For the most part, parties and new governments in general have resisted most black demands to fight racism.

Review Questions

• What factors brought democracy to Brazil?
• How was democratization accompanied by a push for civil rights?