Associate Professor Ann Mische writes about the democratic crisis in Brazil for the Mobilizing Ideas blog: "Brazil is the country of the future – 'always in the future' (as Brazilians typically add with a laugh). The future of the world looks very bleak right now. Can Brazil help to re-direct world-historical currents and re-articulate its own strongest democratic, solidaristic and humanistic impulses? I join many in stubbornly hoping so. In the long term, it will take a commitment to building strong parties with deep social roots that keep their feet firmly grounded in the challenges and counter-currents of the democratic game."