Brazil's overall strength as a state is in question because of political
             corruption. There is a lot of inequality and high poverty rates that are
             hampering the nation. The state has been attempting to rid the country of
             corruption but it has proven difficult especially in the past decade.
             Brazil's government is tightly connected to its economy in several ways and
             their legislative and judiciary system are also extremely important. The
             most important issue is facing is the racial social and economic
             Brazil is the only Latin American nation that derives its language and
             culture from Portugal and currently has a population of around 200 million
             citizens. It first gained its independence in 1822 when the state
             peacefully broke its colonial ties it had previously held with Portugal.
             The state then transitioned into a monarchial system for several decades
             followed by a transition to a democratic system in 1889. However, this
             installment of democracy did not last long. Long periods of authoritarian
             rule along with military regimes took control of the government causing
             internal instability until the modern day Brazilian constitution was
             adopted in 1988 giving the country its first democracy in decades. There
             are also several important divisions in the country that are caused by race
             and ethnicity. Historically African-Brazilians have earned less income
             than other races living within Brazil. African-Brazilians also suffer from
             higher poverty rates and homicide rates. Also, the discrepancy in wealth
             between the Northern part of the country and the Southern part of the
             country is stunning. In 1985, the southeast accounted for 70% of the
             countries' industrial production and 58% of the countries' total GDP. This
             inequality is astounding because it means that the Northern part of the
             country is very poor unlike the economic booming south. According to the
             CIA World Factbook, the Per...