This article discusses the challenges to democracy in the twenty-first century, with emphasis on the situation of Brazil, but within the context of the rise of authoritarian regimes throughout the world. In particular, this article is dedicated to understanding the rise of an extreme right-wing government in Brazil, in the 2018 elections, and its consequences for Brazilian democracy, still young and fragile. Throughout this text, these consequences are analysed historically, economically, politically and socially, in the knowledge that they pose more challenges for the consolidation of Brazilian democracy. In a context of incomplete modernity, the country is living with an excessive number of evils that prevent it from entering a cycle of maturation of its institutions and democracy.