Persecution, Fraud and Freedom: The questioning of electoral systems through populist discourse in the speeches of Jair Bolsonaro
Pereira de Aguiar, Anna Carolina (2024)
2024
Master's Programme in Global Society
Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202402072182
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202402072182
Tiivistelmä
Discourse plays a crucial role in political communication and is fundamental for constructing social and political realities. Populism is at the centre of current political discussions, as a growing number of politicians rely on a populist discourse to gain more relevance in the public sphere. By influencing public perception, political actors can persuade others and encourage mobilisation. The former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, is frequently referred to as a prominent figure in contemporary populism. By resorting to populist discourse, the politician has been able to influence others, gathering support for his political objectives. In this study, I aimed to address how former president Jair Bolsonaro discursively turned the questioning of the Brazilian electoral process into a compelling political demand. The analysis was oriented by the framework offered by epistemic governance to understand how the politician sought support from his audience through the discursive construction of facts, identifications and values.
The data comprises 12 official speeches by Bolsonaro from 2019 to 2022, when he was president of Brazil. To understand how the politician discursively constructed electoral systems in his speeches, I used Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to analyse the dataset, focusing on how populist discourse was employed to delegitimise elections and how epistemic claims were constructed.
The empirical analysis showed that the politician articulates three central claims to make the electoral system a collective demand: persecution, fraud and freedom. They are the backstories to the argument that the electoral system in Brazil is not to be trusted. These overarching themes are constructed through populist discourse, creating a need for change based on this demand and prompting his supporters to action.
The results of this study support the view that Bolsonaro was able to maintain and intensify the polarisation within the Brazilian public sphere through the antagonistic division of society between “us” and “them”. He resorts to imageries of war, mobilising his supporters to take action, defend the country and guarantee that Brazil lives up to its potential in a promising future that lies ahead.
The data comprises 12 official speeches by Bolsonaro from 2019 to 2022, when he was president of Brazil. To understand how the politician discursively constructed electoral systems in his speeches, I used Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to analyse the dataset, focusing on how populist discourse was employed to delegitimise elections and how epistemic claims were constructed.
The empirical analysis showed that the politician articulates three central claims to make the electoral system a collective demand: persecution, fraud and freedom. They are the backstories to the argument that the electoral system in Brazil is not to be trusted. These overarching themes are constructed through populist discourse, creating a need for change based on this demand and prompting his supporters to action.
The results of this study support the view that Bolsonaro was able to maintain and intensify the polarisation within the Brazilian public sphere through the antagonistic division of society between “us” and “them”. He resorts to imageries of war, mobilising his supporters to take action, defend the country and guarantee that Brazil lives up to its potential in a promising future that lies ahead.