Abstract

On 31 August 2016, the president of Brazil Dilma Rousseff , who took office in 2011 and again in 2014, was impeached. Given that between 2003 and 2010 Brazil was led by the representative of the left -wing Workers’ Party Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who pursued social reforms, and the policies of Rousseff ’s successors, Michel Temer and Jair Bolsonaro, had a distinctly right-wing pro-American orientation, one can argue that the impeachment was not only a watershed moment in Brazilian domestic politics, but also marked a broader neoconservative trend of regional significance in the second half of the 2010s. This article examines what factors led to the early resignation of the president. The end of the “golden decade” between 2003 and 2012 with high commodity prices had a critical impact on Brazilian life. In this context, the author studies the reasons for the sharp deterioration of economic conditions and the exacerbation of social tensions in the country in 2013 and 2014 and attempts to determine what was the catalyst for mass protests in Brazil a few years before D. Rousseff ’s impeachment, and how the opposition strengthened during this period (the election campaign for D. Rousseff ’s second term was marked by fierce struggle). The article explains the reasons for budget deficit in Brazil, which led to curtailment of state support programs, increase of social tension, intensification of political struggle and weakening of the ruling party. Attention is given to personal ambitions of former allies of the ousted president who sought to preserve their careers amidst numerous anti-corruption investigations. The author concludes that the preconditions for the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff were formed long before, and many accusations against the former president were not sufficiently justified by her political opponents