'Now', Ep.20: Oliver Della Costa Stuenkel on Brazil’s Response to Covid-19

It was a pleasure to sit down again with Oliver Della Costa Stuenkel to discuss Brazil and indeed the region. This session with Oliver was designed to focus on Brazil’s response to the pandemic. It has become clear that Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has remained highly skeptical over ‘lock down’ measures to safeguard Brazilians. He has fired the Minister of Health and, more recently, the politically influential Justice Minister Sergio Moro has resigned and accused the President of criminal conduct. We were eager to understand how Brazilians viewed the President’s actions and the consequences for his government, especially the economic reforms from these various controversies. We also wanted to survey the effect of the pandemic on the major economies in the region. So, join us. Oliver is an associate professor of international relations at Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) in Sao Paulo. There, with several colleagues, he launched a new School of International Relations. Oliver has written extensively on the politics of the rising powers, including The BRICS and the Future of the Global Order and his most recent book from Polity, Post-Western World: How Emerging Powers are Remaking the Global Order. He is a frequent commentator on the Hemisphere in journals and in the media across the region.