ABSTRACT
More than a year after the election of Lula as president for a third term in November 2022, Brazil's institutions were still recovering from the crisis and instability triggered during four tumultuous years under President Jair Bolsonaro and its dramatic finale. No other institution was as invested in the Bolsonaro presidency – and arguably none experienced as profound a schism and reputational damage – as the Armed Forces of Brazil (FA), whose carefully crafted image as a “moderating power” and guarantor of the constitution suffered a major setback as Bolsonaro supporters rejecting the outcome of the presidential election and calling for a military intervention ransacked the Planalto Palace, the Congress, and the Federal Supreme Court (STF) in the Brazilian capital on 8 January 2023, with the quiet acquiescence – and apparent complicity – of a sizeable number of military officers. In this chapter, we discuss what the turbulent end of the Bolsonaro presidency has meant for the military's stealth intervention and set out to assess the state of civil–military relations and rule of law in Brazil after a year under President Lula.
