Discourse Strategies to Legitimize the Belo Monte Project
Rafael Ginane Bezerra, Rodolfo Coelho Prates, Carlos Gabriel EggertBoehs, Angela Cristina Kochinski Tripoli

Abstract
This is a study of the discourse strategies used to legitimize the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Power Plant project. From an analytical model adapted from the works of Schmidt (2008) and Suchman (1995), the study scans a total of 84 journalistic texts published in the national press between July of 2009 and June of 2010. The State is the actor whose actions require justification as a result of typical environmental disputes. The study looks at the sociological problem of legitimacy in the sphere of ideas and discourse. It highlights the role of the PesquisaEnergética Company, especially that of its president, MaurícioTolmasquim, when facing criticisms of the hydroelectric plant project. The actions of this actor suggest that the discourse strategy used to defend Belo Monte favored the mobilization of ideas regarding the broader program that supports the project. It also suggests that ideas from the more abstract field of political philosophy, although only implied, seek to associate the project with a determined concept of the State. The project is presented as a distinction between the current government and its predecessor.

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