Impeachment as a Driver of Backsliding: Evidence from Brazil

• In Event: Political Behavior in Latin America

Brief Overview

Using synthetic control, this paper shows that Brazil’s democratic decline followed—not preceded—Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment. Without it, democracy would have remained stable, revealing impeachment’s instrumental use as a key driver of backsliding.

Authors

• Gustavo Venturelli, Central European University

• Flavia Batista Batista da Silva, University of Maryland, College Park