The coup d’état in Brazil as an construction of sub-citizenship

Abstract

The article deals with the relationship between the fragility of the construction of the nation-state, the weakness of democracy in Brazil and its consequences in the constraint of citizenship, restricted to the concrete exercise of few people, which establishes predominantly coercive relations of the state apparatus with the popular majorities. This explains the rising up of the recurrent appeal for coups d'état in national history, such as the one that occurred in 2016 with the illegitimate removal of President Dilma Rousseff. It also examines the discursive foundations that seek to legitimize the deep class inequalities in Brazil, and the role they play in establishing a structural dualism, even within the juridical normativity and its validation. It identifies particularly in the native bourgeoisie, a minor partner of imperialism, aspects of the state that obstruct the revitalizing of civil society, stopping the expansion of the internal market and power circles, which ends up leading to the atavistic persistence of authoritarianism in Brazil.