ABSTRACT
This chapter maintains that, regardless of his singularities, Jair Bolsonaro is the consequence of the evolution of Brazilian conservatism. That is, all the elements exhibited by Bolsonaro—although with a slightly reactionary discursive logic—have been historically present in the expressions of the Brazilian right-wing. The monarchical experience, the beginning of the Estado Novo, the military governments and the emergence of some political parties in the 1980s brought about certain authoritarian traits that remain today and somehow constitute the identity of the Brazilian right-wing, including Bolsonaro’s. Thus, this chapter shall cover Brazil’s historical milestones to mark the elements later recovered by Bolsonaro in the formulation of his own right-wing stance and will conclude with an analysis of its peculiarities, inner tensions and the ruptures and continuities with the conservative tradition.
