The New Authoritarian Personality: A Comparative Study of Germany and Brazil

The rise of far-right populisms around the world has sparked debates about the emergence of a “new authoritarian personality” (Gandesha 2018, King 2021, Amlinger/Nachtwey 2022). While these movements share common traits, they exhibit notable variations, especially between the Global North and Global South (Pinheiro-Machado/Vargas-Maia 2023). These variations challenge the assumption that a uniform set of socio-psychological structures underpins their emergence across different contexts. Building on our quantitative and qualitative studies of Germany and Brazil (Bueno 2021, Jäger 2022), this paper compares authoritarian tendencies in both contexts, exploring their similarities and differences. In both countries, we observe the intertwining of neoliberal concepts of freedom with new authoritarian attitudes. However, the form this phenomenon takes and its position within the political spectrum differ significantly. In Germany, two distinct groups emerge: one characterized by explicitly reactionary forms of authority, and another by a novel libertarian authoritarianism that opposes reactionary elements. In contrast, Bolsonaro’s election in Brazil saw the combination of reactionary and libertarian conceptions into a single movement. Although Bolsonarism is a heterogeneous coalition of political groups (Rocha 2019, Nunes 2020), these factions found enough common ground to unite. To account for the similarities and differences between Germany and Brazil, we propose a modular and dynamic concept of the new authoritarian personality. In dialogue with Critical Theory’s classical arguments (Jäger 2020, Bueno 2024), we define it through core socio-psychological structures—distinct from the ‘old’ authoritarian personality—that manifest differently across contexts.