Brazil's frail democracy puts the shining city upon a hill in the shade

Brazil's capital was built with democracy in mind.

- Steve Bloomfield

In 1956, after the end of authoritarian rule, the democratically elected president Juscelino Kubitschek ordered a new city to be built, and turned to the country's leading architect, Oscar Niemeyer, a protege of Le Corbusier, to design the heart of Brasília.

Niemeyer wanted to build something distinctive that would represent the very best of the new, democratic Brazil. The centrepieces - the cathedral, presidential palace and foreign ministry - are stunning works of art. And in the 65 years since they were completed, Niemeyer's buildings have played host to the fall and rise of Brazilian democracy again and again.

Most recently, they were the setting for Jair Bolsonaro's violent attempt to hold on to power after he lost the 2022 election, when a mob of his supporters stormed the congress, supreme court and presidential palace. And last week, the Niemeyer-designed supreme court was where Bolsonaro, along with five military allies, was found guilty of plotting a coup and sentenced to 27 years in jail. In the words of the judges, Bolsonaro had tried to “annihilate” Brazilian democracy, which would have led to the “return of dictatorship”.

Democracy is in crisis. There are now more autocracies than liberal democracies, with almost three-quarters of the world living under authoritarian rule.