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Contemporary Brazil:
The Political Dimension
Objective
As a result of this lesson, students will be able to:
- Analyze the nature of the political system.
- Assess the degree to which Brazilians enjoy the opportunity for civic and political participation.
- Apply Freedom House criteria to contemporary Brazil.
Material
Activities
- Distribute the student handout entitled Freedom House Ratings.
- Explain that Freedom House is a non-governmental organization that studies the condition of political freedom and civil liberties in nations around the world.
- Place the numbers “1,1,F” and “7,7,NF” on the chalkboard.
- Explain that the first number indicates the level of political freedom in a country (right to participate in elections, a political party, etc.) and the second number indicates the level of civil liberties (freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, equal opportunity, etc.)
- Explain that, based on their analysis, Freedom House assigns one of three ratings to a state: Free (F), Partially Free (PF), Not Free (NF)
- Explain that the lower the rating, the more free and democratic the society is, with 1,1,F being the best rating and 7,7,NF the worst rating.
- Direct students to take a few moments to read through the criteria for the ratings in the “Political Rights” segment of the handout.
- Ask students to apply these criteria to the political system in the United States. What rating would they give the U.S.? Why?
- After students have shared their observations, explain that Freedom House gives the U. S. a 1 regarding political rights.
- Direct students to take a few moments to read through the criteria for the ratings in the “Civil Liberties” segment of the handout.
- Ask students to apply these criteria to civil society in the United States. What rating would they give the U.S.? Why?
- After students have shared their observations, explain that Freedom House gives the United States a 1 regarding civil liberties. This would give the United States a rating of 1,1, F, a free state.
- Divide the class into a series of work groups and distribute the student handout entitled The Political Process and Civil Society
- Explain to the class that they are now going to apply the Freedom House criteria to the nation of Brazil by examing a condensed version of the 2006 Freedom House report on Brazil.
- Explain that their task, as a group, is to:
- read through the evidence as presented by Freedom House.
- reach a group consensus on what ratings Brazil should be assigned for both political rights and civil liberties.
- label Brazil as a Free (F), Partially Free (PF) or a Not Free (NF) country based on their findings.
- Construct a group report that explains the rationale for their rating, using examples from the Freedom House report to support their rating.
- When each group has completed its analysis, direct each group to select a spokesperson to deliver the findings of the group to the class.
- As each group delivers its report, enter the group’s rating (example: 2, 2, F) on the chalkboard.
- After all groups have presented, direct the attention of the class to the ratings on the chalkboard. Is there consistency in the ratings? If not, ask the class to try to reach a consensus based on the evidence presented.
- Once the class has achieved consensus, reveal that Freedom House has rated Brazil as 2, 2, F.
- Direct students to read through the handout and to identify at least three reasons why Freedom House has rated Brazil as a Free state.
- Ask students to note that, of particular significance, Brazil's civil liberties rating improved from 3 to 2 due to continued governmental steps to enhance racial equality.
- Concluding Activity
- Direct students to compose an essay in which they identify what they believe to be the most significant obstacles to Brazil’s achieving a full 1,1,F rating, justifying their arguments with data from the Freedom House report.
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