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I read from the LA Times that there are monarchists in Brazil who support the idea of the nation returning to a form of monarchy. According to a poll in 2017, about 10.7% support a return to and Empire with a royal family controlling the country and the only reasons for this support that are mentioned in the LA Times article I have linked to this post (https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-01-06/royalists-pine-for-days-of-empire-in-bolsonaros-brazil) are the ideas that the people who support a return to monarchy are very conservative and don't want a leader who is "not concerned about the next election". However, I feel like there are other ways to deal with the latter issue without returning to a monarchy and being conservative doesn't seem like enough of a reason to want to return to rule by royals. Are there any other reasons to explain why certain voters would want to restore monarchical rule by a family with absolute authority in modern times?

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  • 10.7% of what? It's only a single poll. What is the error margin? How many people were asked?
    – Trilarion
    Feb 2, 2020 at 8:20
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    Given the low level of support, it's rather unlikely there would be a lot detailed surveys on the "why" part.
    – Fizz
    Feb 2, 2020 at 9:49
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    Well, people usually support (return to) monarchy if present system displays constant instability with various first-popular-then-hated politicians temporarily ruling the country, promising great things and delivering little. Monarchy would then return some semblance of order and certainty, tradition and would serve to remind everyone that state exists above petty political partisanship.
    – rs.29
    Feb 2, 2020 at 19:26
  • There is some confusion here (in my mind, in the question, and in the references) between a “royal dictatorship” (absolute monarchy) and a monarchy with a strong prime minister and parliament (constitutional monarchy). I at first suspected it to be the later, as there is a reference to the Parliamentary Monarchist Movement regarding the 1992 referendum. And yet the interviewed would-be king talks like a right wing dictator. For me, this makes a lot of difference to any discussion of the question of why there might be popular Brazilian support for monarchy.
    – Orbital Aussie
    Feb 3, 2020 at 6:39

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I'm Brazilian.

Our democratic government is relatively very corrupt, and has been for a long time. We do have a working free press, so a lot of corruption gets publicly exposed. Over the last few years we've begun seeing high level officials jailed, up to and including the President. That's an improvement in my opinion - when I was a kid in the 90's very damning evidence would get plastered over media with no consequences - but most people perceive it as things getting worse.

This creates dissatisfaction and alienation. A non-negligible minority of the people favors a return to military dictatorship. The monarchists are just another niche.

Also, our last few monarchs were relatively very enlightened, allowing some dissent, abolishing slavery (probably to their demise a few short years later), and keeping the country together against very disfavorable odds - look at all the fragmentation around us on Spanish America. This was over a century ago, but direct descendants are available.

"Even if I had a thousand thrones, a thousand thrones I would give up to end slavery."

—Princess Isabel

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