Human Rights and Transitional Justice in Brazil: An Empirical Analysis of the Socio-Economic Profile and Education of Military Regime Supporters

Abstract

The article is related to the apology and, in turn, to the expressed demand for military intervention/military government in Brazil. The objectives of this article are, 1) to verify whether there is empirical and not only theoretical data (without arguments of authority and/or ideology) on whether the demand for the return of military government in Brazil is the result of weak education, and 2) to verify the socio-economic profile of those who act in this way. The research suggests that it is in the social strata with the weakest education in the population that the greatest number of supporters of military government are to be found. The empirical research carried out indicates that today, counter-intuitively, a) the greater the need for social policies in a given social stratum, the more common it is the demand for the return of a military government, even though this type of government is historically known for its opposition to such policies; and b) the social strata in which there is a greater concentration of wealth are the least supportive of military government, which was, at that time (1964), more dedicated to this class and less to the former. Finally, the research suggests that where there is a higher educational level, there is a lower propensity to demand the return of a military government.