As the world’s seventh largest economy, poised between Western and Eastern power blocs, Brazil is at the forefront of contemporary debates on geopolitics, development, and the green transition. Its political landscape remains dominated by the clash between the left-pragmatism of the ruling Workers’ Party (PT) and the right-populism of bolsonarismo: the former attempting to establish a more equitable growth model under constrained conditions, the latter reactivating some of the darkest elements of the country’s authoritarian past.

Among the partisans of the PT who are grappling with this fraught situation, Fernando Haddad has a unique ability to move between theory and practice, combining his academic background in philosophy with his experience in government — having served as minister of education from 2005 to 2012 and mayor of São Paulo from 2013 to 2017.

When Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was prevented from running for president in 2018, Haddad stood in his place, winning forty-seven million votes yet losing to Jair Bolsonaro by a significant margin. Upon Lula’s return to office three years ago, he was appointed minister of finance, and he has since tried to balance the party’s progressive program with the demand to shrink the deficit in the wake of the pandemic.