From Anti-Politics to Authoritarian Restoration in Brazil
Two years on from his election, the anti-political wave that Jair Bolsonaro rode to office appears to have ebbed. In its place we are seeing a restoration of the reactionary forces that have ruled the country for most of its history.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro speaks with the press before meeting with supporters in Brasilia, Brazil. (Andressa Anholete / Getty Images)
We are two years on from Jair Bolsonaro’s devastating election to Brazil’s presidency. The 2018 general election also saw his minuscule, recently-adopted Social Liberal Party (PSL) become Congress’s second-biggest, while a slew of Bolsonaro-aligned candidates in other parties won seats across the country.
Now, faced with a poor showing in municipal polls this past month, in which the majority of candidates Bolsonaro backed failed, and a growing disapproval related to his nonmanagement of the pandemic, where does Bolsonarismo stand? And have we passed the high-water mark of the “anti-politics” that engulfed Brazil for the better part of the past decade?
The November 3 defeat of Donald Trump, ostensible leader-in-chief of the putative global right-populist wave, has led to a slew of commentary around the world postulating an ebbing of the tide of anti-politics, that Biden’s victory showed the way to defeat right-populist leaders.
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