Over the last decade, Brazilian democracy has faced significant threats. Efforts to protect it began with the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff in 2016 and culminated with Jair Bolsonaro’s defeat in the October 2022 elections. A key factor in resisting autocratisation has been the formation of transnational networks. We argue, through process-tracing analysis, that these networks were crucial alongside domestic civil society and political institutions. They worked to maintain the Workers’ Party as the main alternative to Bolsonaro, safeguard civic spaces for criticism, and raise the costs of attempts to overturn the 2022 election results.
