Resisting Environmental Authoritarianism from within the State: Evidence from Bolsonaro's Brazil

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2024

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Abstract

This article posits that polycentric governance enhances state capacity to resist environmental authoritarianism, an ideal type of bureaucratic authoritarianism. The existing literature often emphasizes the advantages of polycentricity in addressing context-specific issues and mitigating policy failures. We argue that climate-friendly policymakers can counteract environmental authoritarianism by using their decentralized institutional positions within the state. We develop this argument by conducting a critical event analysis of Brazil, the world’s fourth-largest democracy and home to the planet’s biggest tropical rainforest. Specifically, we assess environmental measures pursued by the Brazilian Central Bank, policies implemented by a consortium of Amazonian state governors, and opinions issued by the Brazilian Supreme Court. These actors and organizations have devised institutional instruments targeted at sustainability under and despite an autocratic president. We conclude by highlighting how the Brazilian case illustrates the roles of polycentric governance in facilitating resistance to state power and environmental authoritarianism from within the state.

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climate change, polycentric governance, authoritarianism

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