What is the country’s main problem? Here is my bet.

In recent times, I have attributed our troubles to political polarization and the weakening of the democratic center. I remain convinced that these are pressing issues. One need only recall that, in October, for the third time, Brazil will choose between two candidates, each rejected by half of the electorate. But the dead end to which populism has led us is a consequence, not a cause.

I believe the central obstacle is the erosion of our democracy’s capacity for representation, mediation, and consensus-building.

We are experiencing a serious crisis of governance that is blocking the implementation of the improvements the country demands.

Without the capacity to represent society’s different interests, arbitrate conflicts, set priorities, and build political majorities, the country will remain below its potential.

Our political institutions and mechanisms responsible for building collective projects for socioeconomic progress have lost strength, legitimacy, and effectiveness. And in this vacuum, among other ills, populism has gained even more ground, feeding on illusion and Manichaeism.

There is broad agreement among experts: Brazil will only embark on a sustained path to prosperity if it can carry out a set of structural reforms and incremental improvements in the economy, public administration, the political system, education, healthcare, public safety, and the climate agenda.

The measures capable of producing structural transformation are, in essence, anti-populist: they require difficult choices, impose costs, and offer no immediate benefits in order to produce meaningful results in the future.

Brazil does not lack sound diagnoses or well-founded proposals for progress. Quite the contrary. Filling gaps left by governments and political parties, civil society organizations have been producing studies and formulating evidence-based public policies to address our main challenges.

We know what needs to be done. What we lack is the political capacity to turn knowledge into action, dispersed interests into common goals, and isolated initiatives into long-term strategies.

We have been unable to revisit entrenched privileges, put public finances in order, confront vested interests, improve the State. We know the solutions, but we lack the capacity to implement and sustain them.

We live under the rule of improvisation, instant gratification, permanent conflict, fragmentation.

We need to rebuild the conditions that allow our democracy to function better and deliver better results.

There is both room and a need for civil society to also take the lead in improving our mechanisms of political representation and democratic organization. Nothing suggests that this movement will come from the current power structure.

There are good proposals across different areas of this agenda. What is missing is an initiative capable of connecting them, orchestrating a common agenda, and turning dispersed knowledge and action into powerful advocacy directed at the political system.

We need a strategic civil society organization that can build a coalition among organizations working on public policy, with the mission of recreating the conditions Brazil needs to make difficult decisions and carry out the structural transformations it so badly needs.

A platform that consolidates knowledge, diagnoses, and proposals, mobilizes key actors, and coordinates the implementation of change, working strategically, persistently, across party lines and independently of political parties to improve the functioning of Brazilian democracy and the country’s governance.

An organization dedicated to improving the institutional infrastructure so that the democratic system prioritizes the public interest.

If we strengthen our capacity for representation, mediation, and political coordination in building consensus, we will be better equipped to set priorities for confronting our historical scourges: structural inequality, patrimonialism, corporatism, and clientelism.

A functional democracy, capable of putting Brazil on a path toward prosperity, inclusion, sustainability, and institutional stability, is the best antidote to the allure of authoritarian shortcuts.

Yacoff Sarkovas

Published in Folha de S.Paulo on September 9, 2026.