Demagoguery, populism, and foreign policy rhetoric

Evidence from Jair Bolsonaro’s tweets

Bibliographic Data

ID6050357
AuthorsRodrigo Fracalossi De Moraes (0000-0001-5751-3593, Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume29
Issue2
Pages249-275
Publication date2023-03-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueContemporary Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1356-9775 • E-ISSN: 1469-3631
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13569775.2022.2126155
OpenAlexW4297200953
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited51

This article investigates whether Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro extended demagoguery and populism into his foreign policy discourse. An analysis of 673 tweets indicates that demagoguery was more common (observed in 94 tweets) than populism (observed in 14 tweets). Bolsonaro adopted a Red Scare tactic, distorted information about the 2019 Amazon wildfires, spread rumours about COVID-19, and portrayed relations with the US during Trump's administration and Israel during Netanyahu's as panaceas. Findings suggest that demagoguery can ramify into foreign policy discourse, with a leader fitting distorted interpretations of foreign topics and actors into stories made for domestic consumption. Bolsonaro was cautious concerning relations with China though, indicating that international power politics and expected gains or losses from trade and investment may condition the scope of demagogical discourses. This article shows a conceptual gap in literature on foreign policy discourse, which a framework using the concept of demagoguery can, in part, fill

Linguistics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Populism · Rhetoric · Sociology · Law · Media Influence and Politics · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Social Media and Politics