Gender, Political Violence, and Democratic Backsliding in Brazil: a aritical analysis

Abstract

Brazilian history was forged under a legacy of violence, evidenced by the decimation of Indigenous peoples, the enslavement of Africans, and the systematic exploitation of women’s bodies and lives. This pattern has taken different forms over time, adapting to sociopolitical transformations. From this premise, the present work proposes that violence has historically operated as a structuring mechanism of exclusion, working to foreclose forms of political agency and to maintain power hierarchies. In the contemporary period, its effects manifest in the underrepresentation of marginalized groups, the naturalization of inequalities, and the persistence of exclusionary social structures.

Gender-based violence, in particular, extends beyond the domestic sphere and bears upon the public sphere, revealing itself as well in knowledge production and within political institutions. This study advances a critical analysis of the intersection between gender, political violence, and (de)democratization, highlighting “gender” as a fundamental analytical category in political theory. It proceeds from the hypothesis that gendered political violence is not an anomaly of the democratic system, but rather a recurrent and sophisticated mechanism of exclusion, expressed through the intimidation, silencing, and symbolic erasure of women and gender/sexual dissidents.

This is a theoretical study at an advanced stage, qualitative in nature, based on a literature review and critical analysis of specialized scholarship. Bringing feminist theory into dialogue with democracy studies, the aim is to understand how gendered political violence not only limits women’s presence in sites of power but also reinforces structures of domination, even within regimes that purport to be democratic.