As raízes do golpe: Economia e política na polêmica de Wanderley Guilherme dos Santos com Celso Furtado

Abstract

This work seeks to briefly portray the constitution of political science as a particular discursive field in the history of Brazilian political thought. This aim is presented through an analysis of the controversy between Wanderley Guilherme dos Santos, who was one of the fathers of this science in Brazil, and Celso Furtado, another important Brazilian intellectual. This dispute was built around the question of the military coup in the country in 1964. What were the main reasons for this episode that interrupted our fledgling democracy? Santos argues against the prevailing interpretation, represented by the Furtado’s thought, by a vision that considers political variables as explanatory variables of the phenomenon, and not just as dependent on social and economic structure. I conclude that Santo’s approach of Santos is characteristic of a time when the political science claimed autonomy in relation to other knowledge already established in the country.