POPULISM, PEOPLE AND A TASK FOR PUBLIC THEOLOGY

2021

Two main elements pervade the argument. First, we argue that both 'populism" and 'the people' are precarious concepts that can neither easily be defined, nor easily be claimed by any representative. We hold this to be true both in political and in theological terms, empirically referring to the civil and the religious population and their construction as 'a people', respectively. Second, in view of a common disregard for the people, namely as plebs, we reaffirm the importance of participatory popular subjects as a necessary part of both the political system and Christian communities. This bibliographical and conceptual essay contextualizes and explains the precariousness of realities and concepts, then analyses the concepts of populism and 'people'. It seeks to deepen the discussion of populism by means of dialogue with Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, and then through a theological reflection by way of o a public theology.

2017

Abstract: This paper combines conceptual tools from discourse and social theories to analyze a particular speech that former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva delivered at the end of his second term (2007-2010) in the Complexo do Alemão, a neighborhood located in one of the poorest areas of Rio de Janeiro. It attempts to highlight how Lula breaks with a longstanding tradition of Brazilian politicians who have chiefly represented the political elites. While using a specific rhetoric, Lula constructs (and is constituted by) a “populist” locus of enunciation. Drawing from Ernesto Laclau’s theory of populism, this paper argues that populist logic in Latin America should not be understood pejoratively, but rather as a particular way of doing politics. It thus claims that Lula positioned himself and his interlocutors as “the people,” a specific discourse that breaks with certain Eurocentric expectations about the “appropriate” language of politics in Brazil.

Genealogy, 2022

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

Vibrant, 2020

This article analyzes how religious values, around which the campaign of Jair Bolsonaro was organized and which continue to be used to maintain the fidelity of the religious bases of his government, originate from the actions of the Evangelical Parliamentary Front in the National Congress, which since its establishment has demanded that the values of "the moral majority" be observed by the state. To achieve this, members of the Front instrumentalize legal principles, while also evoking moral panic. These steps, allied to support for other conservative proposals, form the political agenda of a new right that has acted effectively in Brazilian politics and become the political base of a government for which a moral agenda is the backbone of a new state that is "terribly Christian", extremist and conservative. Given this challenging situation, what are the impacts of this sole truth becoming state policy for social diversities, and on our anthropological reflections about the imbrications between religion and politics?

Political theorist Sofia Näström reminds us that "the people" is "one of the more used and abused concepts in the history of politics" 1 . Perhaps its vagueness, the fact that it can be given alternative and even contradictory meanings, explains why it could be used so efficiently as a mobilizing tool. This category is central for conceptions of democracy, nationalism, and populism. Yet it is difficult to point out who the people are. Contrary to assertions of politicians, activists, and some folklorists, "the people" is not a primary datum 2 . It is not there, waiting for someone to discover its essence, or for someone to represent or to embody its interests. The people is foremost a discursive construct, and a claim made in struggles between politicians, activists, and intellectuals.

RUDN Journal of Political Science, 2020

The article analyzes the election campaign, public discourse, and policies of J. Bolsonaro as the President of Brazil. The new President represents the model of an irreconcilable right-wing populist who focuses on US foreign policy. Bolsonaro's rise to power came amid the crisis of left-wing populism in Brazil. The article raises the question: whether Bolsonaro's victory is a remarkable case or a new effective model of public policy and political leadership for Brazil and other countries in the region? The author concludes that it depends largely on J. Bolsonaro's success as the President. At the moment, the interim results of his presidency are highly controversial and continue to divide and polarize Brazilian society.

Vibrant: Virtual Brazilian Anthropology, 2021

Starting from the discussion about the contributions of anthropological perspectives to the study of the extreme right, the article proposes to present some initial analysis about this political ideology in Brazil. It focuses on the construction of the sociocultural and ideological profile of the Bolsonaro government. Specifically, the goal is analysing the form in which the Brazilian government redefines and considers ethnic-racial identities and how it builds its own identity by opposing them. In this sense, this article addresses indigenous alterity, seeking to observe how it is re-signified in Bolsonaro's project. Observing this encounter between the far-right and otherness in the Brazilian context allows to verify values and meanings it gives to cultural plurality, the imaginaries and social representations it builds, and from this to understand how it presents itself and which project of society it defends.

Building on past and current experiences of populism in Latin America, this article makes four arguments. First, whereas populist movements seeking power promise to democratize society by challenging the legitimacy of exclusionary institutions, populist governments often include the excluded at the cost of disfiguring democracy. Second, during populist events the meanings of the ambiguous term ‘the people’ are disputed. When social movements are weak, and when the institutions of liberal democracy are discredited, a populist leader could attempt to become the embodiment of the will of the people. Third, even though the concept of the people is central to populism, it could be constructed differently. It could be imagined as heterogeneous and plural, or as the people-as-one, as an entity that shares one identity and interest that could be embodied in a leader. Fourth, populism shares with fascism an imaginary construction of the people-as-one. Yet differently from fascism, which staged extraordinary politics as war against internal and external enemies, populists staged their extraordinariness as winning popular elections and did not establish dictatorships.

Brazilian Political Science Review, 2021

Despite the obvious connection between conservative Christian leaders and Bolsonaro, from his electoral campaign to the formation of his administration, religious agency in Brazilian politics goes beyond a mere conservative register. This article seeks to trace various dimensions of the trajectory made by evangelicals in Brazilian politics as a tipping factor in the emergence of a new protagonism of religious actors in politics. It discusses how the emergence of evangelicals as public actors has included different ideological and practical expressions, [...]

International Journal of Latin American Religions, 2023

Religion played a major role during the presidential elections in Brazil in 2018 and 2022. Although much has been written about Bolsonaro's religious influence on Brazilian politics, there is a need to understand how politicians on other sides of the political spectrum have positioned themselves in regard to religion. Thus, through transdisciplinary research rooted in Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) explanation phase, this article seeks to assess both Bolsonaro's and Lula's victory and inauguration speeches and their intricacies that appeal to various sorts of politicized religion by problematizing contrasting meanings in discourses of these Brazilian leaders and exploring how social circumstances have enabled or provided conditions for the reproduction of power relations between these politicians and the realm of religion, primarily Christianity. Hence, the article questions: First, which forms of political religion are expressed in the two presidents' victory speeches and inauguration speeches in the aftermath of the last two general elections? Second, in what ways have both presidents been contributing to the politicization of religion and to what degree do Lula and Bolsonaro differ in this regard? It concludes by arguing that although Bolsonaro's exclusionary religious populism can be contrasted to Lula's inclusionary civil religion, there are also some important similarities in their discourses as both politicize Brazilian religion.