Interpretando o populismo brasileiro via Louis Althusser e Slavoj Zizek (1946–1964)

This article aims to analyze the role of Brazilian populist governments between the decades of 1940s and 1960s, focusing on the role of ideology in the political legitimization of this period. From the concepts of Ideological State Apparatus (ISA) and Repressive State Apparatus (RSA), elaborated by Louis Althusser and the reformulation of the concept of Ideology proposed by Slavoj Zizek, it is investigated how the use of public and private institutions, allied to political discourses, were mobilized to win popular support. After all, a government of populist characteristics has as its main purpose the direct appeal to the people, made through the figure of a charismatic leader. Thus, these governments functioned through ideological mechanisms that naturalized the current political order and guaranteed political hegemony. The text also discusses the relationship between propaganda, social control and the questioning of the subject by the State, aiming to understand the social and political dynamics in Brazil during the Populist Republic.