COVID-19: The International–Domestic Nexus of a Catastrophic Pandemic Response

Brazil's government under Jair Bolsonaro responded to the Covid-19 pandemic in ways that made the crisis more deadly, more costly, and more disruptive than it needed to be. Political scientists Carlos R.S. Milani and Tiago Nery look at the national and international roots of that poor response, finding that the sources of Bolsonaro's internal support, his administration's conflicts with important international partners, and their preference for cutting the government budget, especially in support of poor and Indigenous populations, are major components of a nexus of overlapping causes.