Jair Bolsonaro and the defining attributes of the populist radical right in Brazil

Abstract

The presidential candidacy of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil in 2018 was the Populist Radical Right’s (PRR) first one to be electorally successful in Latin America. Although it is possible to assert that Bolsonaro belongs to the PRR given his political career, few studies have focused on the supply-side and Bolsonaro’s ideas and discourses. This article analyzes the relevance of the three defining attributes of the PRR – nativism, authoritarianism, and populism – in Bolsonaro’s ideological and programmatic platform. Based on an analysis of the 2018 electoral manifesto, campaign and government speeches, and social network posts, three arguments will be made: (i) authoritarianism is the primary defining attribute of Bolsonaro; (ii) populism only exists in the country associated with a solid negative political identity, an anti-Workers’ Party sentiment known in Brazil as antipetismo; and (iii) neoliberalism must be considered a fourth ideological element of the Brazilian PRR.