Why a ‘pink tide’ won’t surge even if Lula clinches Brazil race

If Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wins Brazil’s presidential runoff Sunday, his victory would mark the 11th leftist elected in the region in less than five years – a wave harking back to the so-called pink tide, when Latin America’s brand of left-wing politics upended the political status quo.

It’s been a turbulent period for politics around the globe: A party with fascist roots won the Italian elections in September, election deniers are poised to win seats in the U.S. November midterms, and Europe’s brand of far-right populism has continued to inch toward the mainstream for the past several years.

Here in Latin America, deep-seated polarization and swings toward the authoritarian have started to define the political landscape, too. So this weekend all