This chapter introduces the general theme of the book and presents its organization. It starts by listing the innumerous moments of political turbulence in Brazil, as indications of the depth of the current crisis of democracy in the country. Furthermore, it presents the main argument of the book that crises of democracy are linked to democratic backsliding. At the end of the introduction, we propose an analytical model to explain the emergence of such crisis in Brazil. We focus on a multidimensional and sequential explanation that links past unsolved problems of democratic transition with the emergence of new, current forces pushing the system to the brink of collapse. This book is then organized to explore each of the dimensions over time.