EXPERTS ADVISORY

Brazil is enduring its deepest political crisis in decades, with President Dilma Rousseff facing an impeachment vote Sunday in the lower chamber of Congress.

Professors at the University of Michigan can discuss the country’s challenges:

Melvyn Levitsky, a former U.S. ambassador to Brazil, is a professor of international policy and practice at the Ford School of Public Policy.

“Brazil is in the midst of a political, economic, social, and indeed, a moral crisis that challenges its stability,” he said. ” All in all, politics are mimicking the plot of a telenovela, an art form so well developed and popular in Brazilian society.

“The government coalition has splintered; a number of government and opposition politicians are under indictment or in prison for corruption connected to the Petrobras corruption scandal; the economy has taken a serious dip, and President Rousseff’s approval figures are in single digits. In addition, her predecessor, the popular Lula da Silva, is also being accused of corrupt practices. Now that the Chamber of Deputies Committee has approved consideration by that body of impeachment, the matter moves to the full chamber where a motion to impeach must gain a two-thirds majority. If that happens, the senate will take over the process.

“Most experts believe that the senate would remove the president. Normally, the vice president, Michel Temer, would assume the presidency, but he, too, is under suspicion as is the president of the Chamber of Deputies who sponsored the impeachment motion.”

Contact: 734-615-4262, levitsky@umich.edu

Cindy Schipani is a professor of business law at the Ross School of Business.

“It is important to get to the bottom of the corruption scandal,” she said. “Corruption benefits no one except the party receiving the bribe and is essentially a tax on the economy, borne by consumers. Either goods and services are at a lesser quality or consumers pay a higher price to effectively pay for the cost of the bribes. Corruption has no rightful place in the world economy.

“If the evidence shows the complicity of the president in the scandal, impeachment proceedings would seem appropriate, as would a trial. However, before passing judgment, the evidence must be closely examined to determine whether it’s valid or whether the president’s detractors are taking it out of context for political purposes to tarnish the image of the party in power.”

Contact: 734-763-2257, schipani@umich.edu