Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T10:19:46.924Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Rise of the Contentious Right: Digitally Intermediated Linkage Strategies in Argentina and Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2021

Tomás Gold
Affiliation:
Tomás Gold is a doctoral candidate in sociology and a Kellogg Institute fellow at the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA. [email protected].
Alejandro M. Peña
Affiliation:
Alejandro M. Peña is a senior lecturer in international politics at the University of York, Heslington, York, United Kingdom. [email protected].

Abstract

This article analyzes novel patterns of interaction between right-wing parties and protest movements during major contentious cycles in Argentina (2012–13) and Brazil (2013–16), which preceded the advent of the Cambiemos coalition in the former and the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff in the latter. Drawing on a dual process-tracing strategy and a wide range of data sources, this study shows that these interactions are central to understanding why and how right-wing parties leverage novel repertoires and resources from digital activists during contemporary protest cycles, a dynamic conceptualized as a new party linkage strategy through digital intermediation. The study traces its three-phase development in both countries, revealing how differences in institutional contexts and the strength of activist groups contributed to divergent trajectories of partisan opposition toward the end of the cycles, regarding both the subsequent reconfiguration of the right and the entry of digital activists into institutional arenas.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© The Authors 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the University of Miami

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

AUTHOR INTERVIEWS

Interview subjects have been kept anonymous.

AA. 2014. Activist. Buenos Aires, October 3.Google Scholar
AA. 2016. Buenos Aires, November 2.Google Scholar
FF. 2016. Activist. Buenos Aires, December 26.Google Scholar
GG. 2016. Activist. Buenos Aires, December 27.Google Scholar
HH. 2016. Activist. Buenos Aires, December 28.Google Scholar
JJ. 2017. Activist. Buenos Aires, January 6.Google Scholar
KK. 2017. Activist. Buenos Aires, January 6.Google Scholar
LL. 2016. São Paulo, November 24.Google Scholar

References

Alonso, Angela. 2017. A política das ruas: protestos em São Paulo de Dilma a Temer. Novos Estudos, June: 49–58.Google Scholar
Alonso, Angela, and Ann, Mische. 2017. Changing Repertoires and Partisan Ambivalence in the New Brazilian Protests: June 2013 in Brazil. Bulletin of Latin American Research 36, 2: 144–59.10.1111/blar.12470CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anria, Santiago . 2019 . When Movements Become Parties: The Bolivian MAS in Comparative Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/9781108551755CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aragao, Alexander. 2015. Bicudo, Reale Jr., PSDB e movimentos fazem novo pedido de impeachment. Folha de São Paulo, October 15. https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2015/10/1694279-bicudo-reale-jr-psdb-e-movimentos-fazem-novo-pedido-de- impeachment.shtmlGoogle Scholar
Barberà, Oscar, Astrid, Barrio, and Juan, Rodríguez-Teruel. 2019. New Parties’ Linkages with External Groups and Civil Society in Spain: A Preliminary Assessment. Mediterranean Politics 24, 5: 646-64.Google Scholar
Barr, Robert R. 2009. Populists, Outsiders and Anti-Establishment Politics. Party Politics 15, 1: 2948.10.1177/1354068808097890CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, W. Lance, Alexandra Segerberg, and Curd, Knüpfer. 2018. The Democratic Interface: Technology, Political Organization, and Diverging Patterns of Electoral Representation. Information Communication and Society 21, 11: 1655-80.Google Scholar
Bowen, James D. 2011. The Right in “New Left” Latin America. Journal of Politics in Latin America 3, 1: 99124.10.1177/1866802X1100300104CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braig, Marianne, Timothy, Power, and Lucio, Rennó. 2015. Brazil 2015 and Beyond: The Aftermath of the 2014 Elections and Implications for Dilma’s Second Term. LASA Forum 46, 3: 15-17.Google Scholar
Caiani, Manuela, Donatella, Della Porta, and Claudius, Wagemann. 2012. Mobilizing on the Extreme Right: Germany, Italy, and the United States. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199641260.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chalmers, Douglas A., Maria do Carmo C., Campello de Souza, and Atilio, Borón, eds. 1992. The Right and Democracy in Latin America. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Clemens, Elisabeth S. 1993. Organizational Repertoires and Institutional Change: Women’s Groups and the Transformation of U.S. Politics, 1890-1920. American Journal of Sociology 98, 4: 755–98.10.1086/230089CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Consultoría, Evaluación e Investigación Social (CEIS). 2013 . La voz de las cacerolas: encuesta de opinión pública entre los participantes del 18A. Buenos Aires: CEIS. Google Scholar
Dalton, Russell J., Farrell, David M., and Ian, McAllister. 2011. Political Parties and Democratic Linkage: How Parties Organize Democracy. New York: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199599356.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Della, Porta, Donatella, Joseba Fernández, Hara, Kouki, and Lorenzo, Mosca. 2017. Movement Parties Against Austerity. Hoboken: Wiley.Google Scholar
Domínguez, Francisco, Geraldine, Lievesley, and Steve, Ludlam, eds. 2011. Right-Wing Politics in the New Latin America: Reaction and Revolt. London: Zed Books.10.5040/9781350222397CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eaton, Kent. 2011. Conservative Autonomy Movements: Territorial Dimensions of Ideological Conflict in Bolivia and Ecuador. Comparative Politics 43, 3: 291–310.Google Scholar
. Eaton, Kent.2014. New Strategies of the Latin American Right: Beyond Parties and Elections. In Luna and Rovira Kaltwasser 2014b. 75–93.Google Scholar
Engesser, Sven , Nayla, Fawzi, and Anders Olof, Larsson . 2017. Populist Online Communication: Introduction to the Special Issue. Information, Communication and Society 20, 9: 1279-92.Google Scholar
Falleti, Tulia, and Julia, Lynch. 2009. Context and Causal Mechanisms in Political Analysis. Comparative Political Studies 42, 9: 1143-66. Google Scholar
Falleti, Tulia G., and James, Mahoney. 2015. The Comparative Sequential Method. In Advances in Comparative-Historical Analysis, ed. Mahoney and Kathleen Thelen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 211-39.Google Scholar
Ferreira do Vale, Helder. 2015. Territorial Polarization in Brazil’s 2014 Presidential Elections. Regional and Federal Studies 25, 3: 297-311.Google Scholar
Ferrero, Juan P. 2017. Post-Neoliberal Protest in Latin America as a Struggle over the Name of “the People.” Journal of Political Ideologies 22, 1: 5273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrero, Juan P., Luciana, Tatagiba, and Ana, Natalucci. 2018. The End of the Left Turn in Latin America? Dataset on Social Protest in Argentina and Brazil 2011-2016. Bath: University of Bath.Google Scholar
Ferrero, Juan P., Luciana, Tatagiba, and Ana, Natalucci, eds. 2019. Socio-Political Dynamics Within the Crisis of the Left: Argentina and Brazil. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Galinari, Fabiana. 2017. Ativismo na internet e o impeachment de Dilma Rousseff. Master’s thesis, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul.Google Scholar
Gerbaudo, Paolo. 2017. Social Media Teams as Digital Vanguards. Information, Communication and Society 20, 2: 185202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
. Gerbaudo, Paolo 2018. Social Media and Populism: An Elective Affinity? Media, Culture and Society 40, 5: 745-53. 2019. The Digital Party: Political Organisation and Online Democracy. London: Pluto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, Edward. 1996 . Class and Conservative Parties: Argentina in Comparative Perspective. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Google Scholar
Giraudy, María Eugenia. 2015. Conservative Popular Appeals: The Electoral Strategies of Latin America’s Right Parties. Ph.D. diss., University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
O, Globo. 2015a. 12 de abril: os protestos pelo Brasil. April 12. https://epoca.globo.com/tempo/noticia/2015/04/12-de-abril-os-protestos-pelo-brasil.htmlGoogle Scholar
. O, Globo. 2015b. Saiba quem são e o que pensam líderes de protestos neste domingo. March 15. http://g1.globo.com/sao-paulo/noticia/2015/03/saiba-quem-sao-e-o-que-pensam- lideres-de-protestos-neste-domingo.htmlGoogle Scholar
. O, Globo. 2016. Manifestantes fazem maior protesto nacional contra o governo Dilma. March 13. http://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2016/03/manifestacoes-contra-governo-dilma- ocorrem-pelo-pais.htmlGoogle Scholar
Gold, Tomás. 2019. Tracing the Left Turn Crisis Through Argentine Protests: The AntiKirchnerist Cycle of Mobilization (2012–2013). In Ferrero et al. 2019. 117–40.Google Scholar
Gold, Tomás, and Peña, Alejandro M.. 2019. Protests, Signaling, and Elections: Conceptualizing Opposition-Movement Interactions During Argentina’s Anti-Government Protests, 2012–2013. Social Movement Studies 18, 3: 324–45.Google Scholar
Haubert, Mariana. 2015. PSDB convocará para manifestações contra o governo, diz Aécio. Folha de São Paulo, July 27.Google Scholar
Heaney, Michael. 2013. Elections and Social Movements. In The Wiley-BlackwellEncyclopedia of Social and Political Movements, ed. David Snow, Donatella Della Porta, Bert Klan- dersmans, and Doug McAdam. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell. 2–4.Google Scholar
Howard, Philip, and Muzzamil, Hussain. 2013. Democracy’s Fourth Wave? Digital Media and the Arab Spring. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunter, Wendy, and Power, Timothy J.. 2019. Bolsonaro and Brazil’s Illiberal Backlash. Journal of Democracy 30, 1: 6882.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutter, Swen. 2014. Protest Event Analysis and Its Offspring. In Methodological Practices in Social Movement Research, ed. Donatella Della Porta. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Katz, Richard S., and Peter, Mair. 1995. Changing Models of Party Organization and Party Democracy: The Emergence of the Cartel Party. Party Politics 1, 1: 528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitschelt, Herbert. 1989 . The Logics of Party Formation: Ecological Politics in Belgium andWest Germany. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
. Kitschelt, Herbert 2000. Linkages Between Citizens and Politicians in Democratic Polities. Comparative Political Studies 33, 6: 845–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitschelt, Herbert , and Steven I., Wilkinson. 2007 . Patrons, Clients, and Policies: Patterns of Democratic Accountability and Political Competition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koole, Ruud. 1996. Cadre, Catch-All or Cartel? A Comment on the Notion of the Cartel Party. Party Politics 2, 4: 507–23.Google Scholar
Kreiss, Daniel. 2016 . Prototype Politics: Technology-Intensive Campaigning and the Data of Democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kriesi, Hanspeter. 2014. The Populist Challenge. West European Politics 37, 2: 361–78.Google Scholar
Lawson, Kay. 1988. When Linkages Fail. In When Parties Fail, ed. Lawson and Peter Merkl. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 13–40.Google Scholar
Levitsky, Steven, and Kenneth, Roberts. 2011. The Resurgence of the Latin American Left. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Lima, Daniela. 2015. Em encontro da cúpula do PSDB, Aécio Neves defende protestos contra Dilma. Folha de São Paulo, February 27. https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2015/02/1595881-em-encontro-da-cupula-do-psdb-aecio-neves-defende-protestos-contra-dilma.shtml?mobileGoogle Scholar
Lopes, Pedro, and Vinicius, Segalla. 2016. Áudios mostram que partidos financiaram MBL em atos pró-impeachment. UOL Noticias, May 27. https://noticias.uol.com.br/poli-tica/ultimas-noticias/2016/05/27/maquina-de-partidos-foi-utilizada-em-atos-pro-impeachment-diz-lider-do-mbl.htmGoogle Scholar
Loxton, James. 2016. Authoritarian Successor Parties and the New Right in Latin America. In Challenges of Party-Building in Latin America, ed. Steven Levitsky, Loxton, Brandon Van Dyck, and Jorge Domínguez. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 245–72.Google Scholar
Luna, Juan Pablo. 2014 . Segmented Representation: Political Party Strategies in Unequal Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luna, Juan Pablo, and Cristóbal, Rovira Kaltwasser. 2014a. The Right in Contemporary Latin America: A Framework for Analysis. In Luna and Rovira Kaltwasser 2014b. 1–23.Google Scholar
Luna, Juan Pablo, and Rovira Kaltwasser, Cristóbal, eds. 2014b. The Resilience of the Latin American Right. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Lupu, Noam. 2014. Brand Dilution and the Breakdown of Political Parties in Latin America. World Politics 66, 4: 561602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martín, María. 2014a. Protesto apoiado por políticos da oposição fica abaixo das expectativas. El Pais Brasil, December 6.Google Scholar
. Martín, María 2014b. Não é uma banda de indie-rock, é a vanguarda anti-Dilma. El Pais Brasil, December 12. https://brasil.elpais.com/brasil/2014/12/12/politica/1418403638_389650.htmlGoogle Scholar
Mauro, Sebastián. 2017. Las elecciones presidenciales y el reagrupamiento de los actores políticos. in La venganza de los huérfanos, ed. Mauro and Julieta Lenarduzzi. Buenos Aires: Universidad de Buenos Aires. 23–44.Google Scholar
McAdam, Doug. 1982 . Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930–1970. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar
McAdam, Doug, and Sidney, Tarrow. 2010. Ballots and Barricades: On the Reciprocal Relationship Between Elections and Social Movements. Perspectives on Politics 8, 2: 529–42.Google Scholar
McVeigh, Rory. 2016. What’s New About the Tea Party Movement? In Understanding the Tea Party Movement, ed. Nella Van Dyke and David S. Meyer. London: Routledge. 29– 48.Google Scholar
Middlebrook, Kevin J., ed. 2000. Conservative Parties, the Right, and Democracy in Latin America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Montero, Alfred. 2014. Brazil: Explaining the Rise and Decline of the Conservatives. In Luna and Rovira Kaltwasser 2014b. 294–318.Google Scholar
Murillo, María V. 2015. Curtains for Argentina’s Kirchner Era. Current History 114, 769: 56-61. La Nación. 2012. El Pro salió a repartir panfletos por el 8N. November 8. https://www.lana-cion.com.ar/politica/el-pro-salio-a-repartir-panfletos-por-el-8n-nid1524259/CrossRefGoogle Scholar
. Murillo, María V. 2013. Invitación de los caceroleros a compartir la marcha del 18-A. April 12. https://www.lanacion.com.ar/politica/invitacion-de-los-caceroleros-a-compartir-la-marcha-del-18-a-nid1571982Google Scholar
Neves, Aécio. 2014. Mais do que nunca, precisamos estar mobilizados! Facebook, December 5. https://www.facebook.com/AecioNevesOficial/videos/914888918555990. Accessed June 7, 2019.Google Scholar
Nicolau, Jairo. 2006. O sistema eleitoral de lista aberta no Brasil. Dados 49, 4: 689720.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ortellado, Pablo, and Esther, Solano. 2016. Nova direita nas ruas? Uma análise do descompasso entre manifestantes e os convocantes dos protestos antigoverno de 2015. Perseu: História, Memória e Política 11: 169–80.Google Scholar
Partido da Social Democracia, Brasileira (PSDB). 2015. Inserção nacional do PSDB 08/15. Two videos. Official PSDB YouTube Channel. Accessed November 7, 2018.Google Scholar
Payne, Leigh. 2000. Uncivil Movements: The Armed Right Wing and Democracy in Latin Amer- ica. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Google Scholar
Peña, Alejandro M., and Thomas R., Davies. 2017. Responding to the Street: Government Responses to Mass Protests in Democracies. Mobilization: An International Quarterly 22, 2: 177200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pereyra, Sebastián. 2017. Protest, Social Movements, and Malaise in Political Representation in Argentina. In Malaise in Representation in Latin American Countries: Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay, ed. Alfredo Joignant, Mauricio Morales, and Claudio Fuentes. New York: Palgrave Macmilan. 235–56.Google Scholar
Pereyra, Sebastián, Germán J., Pérez, and Federico L., Schuster. 2015. Trends of Social Protest in Argentina: 1989–2007. In Handbook of Social Movements Across Latin America, ed. Paul Almeida and Allen Cordero Ulate. New York: Springer. 335–60.Google Scholar
Pew Research Center. 2014. Brazilian Discontent Ahead of World Cup. June 3. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2014/06/03/brazilian-discontent-ahead-of-world- cup. Accessed May 22, 2019.Google Scholar
Poguntke, Thomas. 2002. Party Organizational Linkage: Parties Without Firm Social Roots? In Political Parties in the New Europe: Political and Analytical Challenges, ed. Kurt Luther and Ferdinand Müller-Rommel. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 43–62.Google Scholar
Polletta, Francesca, and Jessica, Callahan. 2017. Deep Stories, Nostalgia Narratives, and Fake News: Storytelling in the Trump Era. American Journal of Cultural Sociology 5, 3: 392^08.Google Scholar
Pribble, Jennifer. 2013. Welfare and Party Politics in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, Kenneth 2002. Party-Society Linkages and Democratic Representation in Latin America. Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 27, 53: 9–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
. Roberts, Kenneth 2014. Changing Course in Latin America: Party Systems in the Neoliberal Era. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodríguez, Niell, Paz. 2012. Hoy, los cibermilitantes. Secretos y estrategias detrás de las cacerolas. La Nacion, October 14.Google Scholar
Saad-Filho, Alfredo, and Lecio, Morais. 2014. Mass Protests: Brazilian Spring or Brazilian Malaise? Socialist Register 50: 227–46.Google Scholar
Samuels, David J., and Cesar, Zucco. 2018. Partisans, Antipartisans, and Nonpartisans: Voting Behavior in Brazil. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scarrow, Susan. 2015 . Beyond Party Members: Changing Approaches to Partisan Mobilization. Oxford: Oxford University Press. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, Ben Ross. 2004. Business Politics and the State in Twentieth Century Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schradie, Jen. 2019 . The Revolution That Wasnt: How Digital Activism Favors Conservatives. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silva, Eduardo , and Federico, Rossi. 2018 . Reshaping the Political Arena in Latin America: From Resisting Neoliberalism to the Second Incorporation. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silveira, Sergio Amadeu da. 2015. Direita nas redes sociais online. In Direita, volver! O retorno da direita e o ciclo político brasileiro, ed. Sebastião Velasco e Cruz, André Kaysel, and Gustavo Codas. São Paulo: Fundação Perseu Abramo. 213–30.Google Scholar
Smith, Amy Erica. 2019 . Religion and Brazilian Democracy: Mobilizing the People of God. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Somma, Nicolás. 2013. Participación ciudadana y activismo digital en América Latina. In Internet y movilizaciones sociales: transformaciones del espacio público y de la sociedad civil, ed. Bernardo Sorj and Sergio Fausto. São Paulo: Plataforma Democrática. 103–46.Google Scholar
Tagina, María L., and Carlos, Varetto. 2013. Argentina: del apogeo electoral a la inminencia de la crisis sucesoria. Revista de Ciencia Política 33, 1: 3–34.Google Scholar
Tarrow, Sidney. 2010. The Strategy of Paired Comparison: Toward a Theory of Practice. Comparative Political Studies 43, 2: 230–59.Google Scholar
Tatagiba, Luciana, and Andrea, Galvão. 2019. Os protestos no brasil em tempos de crise. Opinião Pública 25: 63–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tatagiba, Luciana, Thiago, Trinidade, and Ana Claudia, Chaves Teixeira. 2015. Protestos à direita no Brasil (2007–2015). In Direita, volver! O retorno da direita e o ciclo político brasileiro, ed. Sebastião Velasco e Cruz, André Kaysel, and Gustavo Codas. São Paulo: Fundação Perseu Abramo. 197–212.Google Scholar
Vaccari, Cristian. 2013. Digital Politics in Western Democracies: A Comparative Study. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Vaccari, Cristian, and Augusto, Valeriani. 2016. Party Campaigners or Citizen Campaigners? How Social Media Deepen and Broaden Party-Related Engagement. International Journal of Press/Politics 21, 3: 294312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vommaro, Gabriel. 2017 . La larga marcha de Cambiemos: la construcción silenciosa de un proyecto de poder. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Siglo Veintiuno. Google Scholar
. Vommaro, Gabriel. 2019. De la construcción partidaria al gobierno: PRO-Cambiemos y los límites del “giro a la derecha” en Argentina. Colombia Internacional 99: 91–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Von Bülow, Marisa. 2018. The Empowerment of Conservative Civil Society in Brazil. In The Mobilization of Conservative Civil Society, ed. Richard Youngs. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 13–18. https://carnegieendowment.org/files/Youngs_Conservative_Civil_Society_FINAL.pdfGoogle Scholar
Walgrave, Stefaan, Walter Lance, Bennett, Jeroen, Van Laer, and Christian, Breunig. 2011. Multiple Engagements and Network Bridging in Contentious Politics: Digital Media Use of Protest Participants. Mobilization 16, 3: 325–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolinetz, Steven B. 2002. Beyond the Catch-All Party: Approaches to the Study of Parties and Party Organization in Contemporary Democracies. In Political Parties: Old Concepts and New Challenges, ed. Richard Gunther, José R. Montero, and Juan J. Linz. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 136–65.Google Scholar
Zucco, Cesar, and Power, Timothy J.. 2019. Fragmentation Without Cleavages? Endogenous Fractionalization in the Brazilian Party System. Comparative Politics Forthcoming. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3466149 CrossRefGoogle Scholar