O blog anda parado porque tenho gastado todo o meu tempo livre tentando entender, a la Santiago Zavala, em que momento o Brasil se fodeu. (Mentira, ando mesmo e com bloqueio de escritor, ou preguica, a depender da generosidade do leitor). De qualquer forma, com relacao a pergunta, li hoje tres coisas interessantes:Frances Hagopian coloca como origem da atual crise de representacao a divergencia entre a expansao de accountability horizontal e a falha dos partidos em capturar a demanda emergente por representacao politica:"Why are voters ready to see the ouster of a presidentto whom they gave a second term just two years ago? Why, givenBrazils great strides in building a more inclusive democracy buttressedby stronger institutions of horizontal accountabilitywhich have beenkey to exposing the Petrobras scandalare we witnessing such politicalturmoil? What underlies the current crisis? The answer is that stronger horizontal accountability institutions andan expanded citizenship have paradoxically eroded the bonds of verticalaccountability. Brazils recent achievements in empowering accountabilityinstitutions and enforcement agencies and broadening sociopolitical inclusionhave generated demands for political representation that the existingparty system has not been able to meet. The work of judicial institutionsnow throws corruption (hardly a new phenomenon) into starker relief. Atthe same time, the stabilization of the economy and the expansion of accessto social services and income support have made citizens less relianton patronage and more demanding of local and national governments."Mainwaring, Power e Bizzarro apontam que o relativo sucesso economico do Brasil ate poucos anos atras ajudou a institucionalizar o sistema de partidos, algo que esta em risco com a crise corrente e os dois principais partidos programaticos do pais catando os cacos do que ja foram por ai. O reverso da institucionalizacao e o personalismo da politica no Peru ou o caos da Venezuela.Alguma esperanca? De novo, Hagopian:"The protests of recent years in Brazil are a sobering reminder thatdemocracies need representative institutions to reach citizens, to expresstheir aspirations, and to translate their preferences into effective governingsolutions. But the protests also offer a ray of hope: Even in hardtimes, and with popular anger at the political class threatening to boilover, Brazilians find their democracy worth taking part in, and respectthe institutions that safeguard it."E, no mesmo tom, a (grande) coluna desta semana do Michael Reid na The Economist: "... in Brazil, with its strong parliamentary tradition, no president can govern against Congress. When Ms Rousseff brandishes her 54m votes in the presidential election of 2014 as a defence, she forgets that they were for Mr Temer too, and that the senators have an equally valid democratic mandate. Brazil has thus offered a tutorial in constitutional theory to the likes of Nicolas Maduro, Venezuelas dictatorial president. The legacy of a divisive impeachment is not all bad." The sad truth is that the saints we revere for thinking for themselves almost always end up thinking by themselves. We are disappointed to find that the self-taught are also self-centered, although a moments reflection should tell us that you have to be self-centered to become self-taught. (The more easily instructed are busy brushing their teeth, as pledged.) The independent-minded philosopher-saints