Lula, the people’s guy: populism, liberal democracy and voting in Brazil

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with Workers’ Party supporters inNortheast Brazil, and analysis of electoral campaign materials, I showthat left-wing populist discourse can activate aspects of a traditionaland apparently illiberal political culture that are compatible with liberaldemocracy, particularly the principles and ideals of representation,accountability and redistribution of economic growth. By political culture,I refer to the intersection between, on the one hand, culturalaspects such as religion, power relations rooted in history and life trajectoriesdictated by political and economic constraints, and, on theother hand, political discourses, leaders and policies. Moreover, I showthat Workers’ Party voters are not irrational actors, as some scholars ofpopulism argue, but vote for politicians and parties that radically transformedtheir lives. Using Northeast Brazil as a case study, the papercontributes to debates about the relationship between populism andliberal democracy, showing how the two are not incompatible.