Populism and Religion in Brazil: The View from Education Policy

Abstract

This article is a case study of Brazil, a country where Catholic-based organizations have historically played a key role in providing education and welfare services. Since the 1980s, these organizations have supported progressive changes at both the national and subnational levels. Nevertheless, the influence of religion on education policy has shifted in the last few decades. Pentecostal and Neopentecostal groups have gained prominence through representatives in the National Congress, and, in 2018, formed a coalition enabling the election of a right-wing populist President. We analyse the trajectory of religious groups’ influence on Brazil’s education policy over time (colonization to the 1980s, the 1980s to the beginning of the 2000s, and the 2000s until now) through a qualitative-historical analysis of primary and secondary data. This article argues that both Catholic and Protestant groups have influenced progressive changes in Brazil’s education policy, but they also share conservative ideas impeding further advances.

Changes in Brazilian education policy and the rise of right‐wing populism

“…Even though the Workers Party had the support of Pentecostal and Neopentecostal politicians, most evangelical politicians who supported the Workers Party were linked to ‘historic’ Protestant groups that endorsed more progressive policies over time, especially seeking to tackle hunger, poverty and inequality. However, in the last decade, Pentecostal and Neopentecostal politicians gained importance in the National Congress, electing more federal deputies and senators, but, unlike ‘historic’ Protestant politicians, they have supported more conservative agendas (Segatto et al ., 2021). In the 2011–2014 legislature, the EPF comprised 71 federal deputies and three senators, and in the 2015–2019 legislature, 75 deputies and three senators.…”

A Research Agenda for Civil Society

“…Thus, some forms of "uncivil society" (Glasius, 2010) challenge Brazil's secular and democratic policy principles, in the form of extreme right-wing or fundamental religious groups, some latent forms of uncivil society that were present even after the transition to democracy in the late 1980s (Avritzer, 2004). These, and others that recently emerged, have been acting to influence public policy through a challenge to the lay status of the state and othering disadvantaged groups like women and black people and minorities such as the LGBTQI+ community (Segatto et al, 2021;Alves et al, 2021).…”