So how did that happen? Because Congress asserting itself is not bad per se, but what is happening in Brazil, what are the good things about it, and what are the bad things about it?

So the short version is, uh, this process did not happen overnight, and it did not happen through one big reform.

It's the accumulation of about two decades of smaller shifts, plus I think a couple of turning points.

For most of the post-dictator period, the president really did run the show in Brazil.

So, uh, if you look at earlier works, uh, uh, done in political science between 1988 and the early 2000s, about 85% of the laws that got approved originated in the presidency, and the odds of Congress actually, uh, killing a presidential bill were under 3%.

I think the f- to me, and that's what, uh, we, we write in the, the policy papers, that the first, uh, turning point was in 2001, when Congress reformed how provisional decrees work.

Provisional decrees are like, uh, executive orders in the US.

Uh, I mean, how can you put the genie back in the bottle? Uh, and is there any precedent in Brazilian politics for Congress restraining itself?