Ideology
Even before UDN supported the 1964 Brazilian Coup d'etat, opponents of UDN characterized it as a golpista (pro-coups d'état) party. However, the party was not conservative as a whole. Liberal and authoritarian, conservative and progressive theses coexisted in UDN. For instance, it voted in favor of the state monopoly on oil and against the impeachment of Communist members of the Congress. On the other hand, it denounced the "Communist infiltration" in public administration, and strongly opposed government intervention in the economy. As a matter of fact, members of the Democratic Left faction, which defected UDN to form the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), characterized the party as a free market advocate, citing this as one of the reasons for the defection. Contesting the results whenever losing an election was also a common practice inside UDN.
The party was marked by binding itself with the Brazilian Army and the aspirations of urban middle classes, all of which became unofficially known as "udenismo". An expression of the attitudes of its leaders towards politics, "udenismo" was characterized by defending classical liberalism, clinging to higher education and morality, and repulsing populism (as well as characterizing it as bad).
Read more about this topic: National Democratic Union (Brazil)
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