Military Politicization in Brazilian Politics

Research Presentation

Captain Mayor and Sergeant Councilman? An Assessment of the Reach of Military Politicization in Brazilian Politics

Civilian control of the armed forces and the absence of military politicization are fundamental democratic norms.  In recent years, some democratically elected national leaders, including current Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, have subverted these norms.  In this paper, we, first, evaluate whether the increased political involvement of the armed forces in Brazil extends to the realm of local politics and, second, discern whether bureaucratic interest-based, demand-based, or conditions-based theories explain local-level trends.  To do this, we descriptively assess candidacies from twenty-first century Brazilian municipal elections and estimate a series of regression models exclusively for the 2020 round.  We learn that national politicization has coincided with a marked increase in the number of “military candidates” in Brazilian mayoral and city councilor contests and that municipal support for Bolsonaro is positively associated with military candidates contesting local elections, in line with conditions-based theories and sounding the alarm bells of democratic weakening.

About the Speaker: 

Dr. Kelly Piazza (Senters) is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the United States Air Force Academy. She received her B.A. from Lafayette College in May 2013 and her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in August 2018. Dr. Piazza specializes in comparative politics and studies gender, corruption, political regime transitions, the political economy of development, civil-military relations, and strategic competition both in Brazil and in the broader Latin American region.  She has published on these topics in World Development, the Latin American Research Review, and Latin American Politics and Society, among other outlets, and the Lemann Foundation, the Tinker Foundation, and the United States Departments of Education and Defense have supported her professional development and research.

For more information, please contact Professor Seo-Hyun Park (parksh@lafayette.edu).   

Sponsored by the Department of Government and Law & International Affairs Program