A Precarious Hegemony: Neoliberalism, Social Struggles and the End of Lulism in Brazil

Analysis of the Brazilian political and economic crisis tends to emphasize the economic ‘errors’ of the government of President Rouseff of the Workers’ Party (PT) inherited from her predecessor Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva. It is clear, however, that the focus on political and economic regulation is too narrow to understand the current crisis. Such explanations are unable to reveal the changes in class structure that took place during the Lula era as well as the effects of the international economic crisis. This article thus analyzes the conflicts produced by the neoliberal regime of accumulation and the Lulista mode of regulation, emphasizing the role of precarious work in the current historical cycle of strikes and popular struggles in Brazil. In this context, it interprets the nature and characteristics of the social forces behind the impeachment of President Rousseff.