India and Brazil - Comparing Environmental Policies in 16 Countries - page 178

4-year term. He appoints his cabinet. he president is not a member of
the legislature as in many European countries. The bicameral National
Congress consists of a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. The senators
are elected by majority, and the deputies are elected by proportional rep-
resentation. Voting is compulsory (like Australia). Many parties hold seats
in both chambers. Leading ones are the Democratic Movement Party,
the Workers Party, the Social Democracy Party, the Democrats, and the
Progressive Party. A small Green Party holds 10 seats in the Chamber of
Deputies, amounting to 4%.
The president from 2002 to 2010 was Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the
Workers Party, which he helped found in 1980. He came from a poor
family and rose to power in the metal workers union, eventually becoming
its president. Over the years he shifted from his socialist ideology to a mod-
erate one. While his election appeared to repudiate earlier pro-market poli-
cies of the government, in office the change was not too great. His successor,
whom he handpicked, was Dilma Rousseff. Educated as an economist,
Rousseff came from an upper-class household but had become a socialist as
a young woman. She fought against the military dictatorship with Marxist
groups and was arrested, tortured, and imprisoned for 2 years. After her
release she became active in politics in the state of Rio Grande do Sul as a
member of the Labor Party and served as secretary of the treasury and of
energy. Later she became the national Minister of Energy for Lula, imple-
menting his rural electrification program, Luz para Todos (Light for All).
The Constitution of 1988 has an entire section of six paragraphs on the
right to “an ecologically balanced environment.” The government must
preserve the land and the generic patrimony and protect against the extinc-
tion of species. Mine operators must restore the land, and nuclear plants
are to be regulated. The national government has control over unoccupied
lands or those seized by the states through discriminatory actions. Impact
studies are required. 8
The Federal Republic has 26 states and a federal district for the capital of
Brasilia. Its regions are politically diverse, a feature dating back to colonial
times. During the Old Republic of 1889 to 1930, the national government
served merely as a clearinghouse for the states. Since 1930 the power of
the central government has increased. Rather than act autonomously,
the states strive to gain goods and services of the Brasilia authorities.
Like Washington, DC, and Canberra, Australia, the capital of Brasilia is
a new city situated in a central location and completely built from scratch.
The intention was to foster development of the interior, an idea dating