The Political Authoritarianism and Press in Contemporary Brazil

   CONTENTS  

Foreword

Research Structures

Energy, Environment, and Biodiversity

Humanities and Ethics

Culture and Education

Society and Development

Information and Communication Technology

Biology and Health

Research Structures and Researchers

About

Home PUCRS TECNOPUC EDIPUCRS
Uk  Versão em Português  Uk  PDF Version  

Dictatorships and development in the eyes of intellectuals and the press

Together, the Vargas Era (1930-1954) and Civil-Military Dictatorship (1964-1985) encompass nearly half a century of centralizing and authoritarian government in Brazil. Although both periods left an important legacy in terms of economic and industrial development, they are observed in different ways by a large fraction of society. To understand those eras from the perspective of contemporary intellectuals and to understand the reaction of the mass print media, Professor Luciano Aronne de Abreu chairs the projects conducted by the Research Group on Political Authoritarianism and Press in Contemporary Brazil, which is connected to the Graduate Program in History.

Designed as a five-year project begun in 2011, these studies aim to understand how the authors Oliveira Viana, Francisco Campos, Azevedo Amaral, Roberto Simonsen, Golbery do Couto e Silva, and Meira Mattos formulated their ideas on the creation of political and economic models that would not be mere copies of the models developed abroad. Viana and Amaral, for instance, held that for the sake of organization and the maintenance of national order and union, the State ought to prevail over Brazilian society. For intellectuals in the 1950s and 1960s, the political life of the country turned around nationalism and the ideology of development and included the mobilization and organization of the people.

How did the press experience and reflect those periods, particularly in the editorials of the main newspapers? This feature has an identical importance in the studies conducted by the group. The data are collected in parallel and thus allow for the intertwining of information. The press is simultaneously a source for and subject of research.

The larger goal of this project is to contribute to currently recurring discussions within the political and intellectual milieus, e.g., the concentration of power by the executive branch of the government and its relationship with the Parliament. Academic collaborations have been established with several universities in Brazil and USA, such as University of São Paulo, Federal University of São Carlos, Federal University of Minas Gerais, and Georgetown University.