Claiming the Nation

Time and again, in heated debates over Brazil's political economy and democracy, one disputed concept emerges: nationalism. Claiming the Nation traces the contested history of the nationalist label in twentieth-century Brazil, examining how both progressive and conservative forces invoked national interest to advance divergent political agendas. Focusing on the period from the 1920s through the end of military rule in 1985, Andre Pagliarini demonstrates how progressive reformers linked nationalism to social justice, economic sovereignty, and mass participation, while right-wing elites often used it to justify hierarchy and technocratic governance. Through detailed analysis of political debates, media, and activism, the book shows how competing attempts to define and claim nationalism in the public square shaped Brazil’s civic identity, development, and political trajectory during the past one hundred years. Ultimately, Pagliarini unveils the enduring ways in which control over nationalist discourse became a proxy for determining who legitimately represented the nation and its future.

Andre Pagliarini is Assistant Professor of History and International Studies at Louisiana State University, fellow at the Washington Brazil Office, and nonresident expert at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He is the author of Lula: A People’s President and the Fight for Brazil’s Future.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

PART I: THE LANGUAGE OF REFORM
1 • The Nationalist Persuasion: The Emergence of a Progressive Nationalism (1922–1950)
2 • The Crucial Decade: Progressive Nationalism in the 1950s (1950–1960)
3 • Politics as Solution: Nationalism and Reformist Aspirations from the 1960 Election to the Fall of João Goulart (1960–1964) 

PART II: PATRIOTIC AUTHORITARIANISM
4 • Confronting “Temperamental Nationalism”: Redefining Nationalism under Military Rule (1964–1974)
5 • Demons, Old and New: The Struggle for Legitimacy at the Twilight of Military Rule (1974-1985)

Conclusion

Notes
Bibliography
Index