Cause or consequence? representation and participation in the bolsonarist countermovement to the crisis of democracy in Brazil

Abstract

This article questions the current idea that the election and government of Jair Bolsonaro are expression and cause of the crisis of Brazilian democracy. Despite the increase in inequality and its authoritarianism, the phenomenon should be seen as a countermovement to what has been called de-democratization. More than a reaction to thirteen years of progressive governments, the power of Bolsonarism is also the result of the alternative that it symbolizes to a system impervious to popular participation. Through the analysis of his speech and practice, marked by the responsiveness of representation and the active participation of his social base, it is argued that he invigorates, in a contradictory way, elements of popular sovereignty absent from post-democratic politics. Thus, Bolsonaro distinguishes himself from competing actors, dedicated to restoring the liberal consensus and political institutions, both at the origin of the contemporary crisis.