A posição da Associação Brasileira do Agronegócio (ABAG) na crise política brasileira (2015-2022)

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the position of the Brazilian Agribusiness Association (ABAG) in the Brazilian context of crisis and political instability, which began with the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff in 2015-2016 and extends until the end of Jair Bolsonaro's term in late 2022. To this end, primary sources were used: ABAG documents (newsletters, activity reports, congress proceedings, public statements); interviews and posts by the organization's leaders published in digital media; and media reports about the organization. In addition, the research drew on the study of the bibliography on ABAG, agribusiness in Brazil, Brazilian politics in the recent context, and the theory of class fractions. Agribusiness is often presented as a monolithic bloc without fissures in journalistic, political, and academic circles. Different from this view and based on the theory of class fractionation developed by Poulantzian studies, this work sought to demonstrate that agribusiness is traversed by conflicts arising from the scale of capital, the function of capital (or economic activity), and the insertion of the bourgeoisie in the international economic system that affect the political process. In this sense, this research hypothesizes that ABAG represents large international capital linked to the production of agricultural inputs and the agroindustry of the sugar-alcohol sector. It is precisely from the connection of ABAG with the interests of these class fractions that we can understand its particular positioning in the Brazilian context of recent years.