Description
Since taking office in 2019, Jair Bolsonaro nominated an unprecedented number of military officials to strategic posts with high paying salaries across ministries. We analyse military political participation during the Bolsonaro administration and argue that military participation has been an essential means through which the president has remained in office despite numerous crises and possible crimes. Three complementary points are made. First, the Armed Forces has acted as Bolsonaro’s ‘unofficial party’ instead of the relatively new Social Liberal Party with which he was affiliated during the campaign but left after taking office. Second, incorporating many military officials into his administration has allowed Bolsonaro to reinforce his military persona and, simultaneously, capitalise on the military’s supposed ‘technical’ aptitudes to counter critiques of more controversial appointments accused of being ‘ideological’ choices. Third, widespread military political participation has introduced into the federal government military logics of hierarchy and obedience that are typical of military landscapes which has allowed the Bolsonaro administration to enact many of its most controversial policies. The assessment is based on an exploration of the ways and extent to which the Armed Forces legitimises Bolsonaro in conjunction with data on the militarisation of three ministries: Health, Environment, and
Defence.
