FROM THE PROTOCOLS OF THE WISE PEOPLE OF ZION TO THE DEEP STATE – HOW CONSPIRATORY THEORIES INFLUENCE EXTREME-RIGHT THOUGHT IN THE UNITED STATES AND BRAZIL

Abstract

The rise of the far-right around the world demands more accurate studies to understand the theoretical foundations that guide its parties and movements. Bolsonarism and Trumpism, whose example the Brazilian movement seeks to emulate, rely largely on so-called conspiracy theories as an effective method of mobilizing large sections of the electorate while also serving as an attractive appeal in the fight against the legitimacy of democratic institutions. Conspiracy theories, of which The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a classic example, have recently been used by the powers that be to undermine the will of the people in the public arena. The aim of this study is, therefore, to critically reveal how the aforementioned two far-right movements resort to conspiracy theories to constrain the institutions of liberal democracy by weakening their mechanisms of constitutional control. The methodology used consists of reviewing the literature on the subject, comparing it with the institutionalist literature of the present time, especially that which deals with the tension between “death” and the resilience of democracy, to critically analyze Our main conclusion suggests that conspiracy theories assume an essential status in the constitution of the hard core of political thought of the American and Brazilian extreme right, serving simultaneously to try to delegitimize democratic institutions and their political elites by anathematizing them, as well as to maintain the collective cohesion of the aforementioned parties and movements by appealing to fear and popular dissatisfaction in the face of presumed internal and external threats how conspiracy theories permeate the political thinking of Bolsonarism and Trumpism.