SYSTEM AND ANTI-SYSTEM IN THE CRITIQUE OF BOLSONARISM

Abstract:

A concept of growing popularity in the Brazilian public and academic debate, Bolsonarism has been the subject of several studies and important interpretations of contemporary Brazil. This article aims to analyze the contours and presuppositions of the term based on the analysis of an element often attributed to it: its anti-systemic dimension. To this end, we critically analyze two of the most influential books on Bolsonarism, by Marcos Nobre and Rodrigo Nunes, which focus on its fundamental antagonism to the Brazilian political system (and to the “establishment” in general). Based on an analysis of the concept of Bolsonarism constructed by the authors, we argue that this conceptual construction around the system-antisystem axis sublimates one of its central elements, the authoritarian radicalization of the traditional right, by presupposing (a) a reiteration of the state-society dualism (typical of a long tradition of Brazilian political thought); (b) an overlapping of different right-wing actors (ultra-right, traditional right, new right, Bolsonaro); and (c) an unmediated import of concepts and contexts that are relatively exogenous to the Brazilian case .

Keywords:  Bolsonarism; Far-right; Brazilian political and social thought; Interpretations of contemporary Brazil; Democratic crisis in Brazil