Paulo Henrique is a Brazilian political scientist and Professor of Political Science at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), where he teaches across the Department of Political Science and the Institute of Social and Political Studies (IESP-UERJ). He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences from the Federal Fluminense University (UFF), alongside a Master’s degree and a Ph.D. in Political Science from IESP-UERJ, which included a doctoral research period at the Università degli Studi di Pisa in Italy. He also completed postdoctoral fellowships at both IESP-UERJ and the University of São Paulo (USP).
His research focuses on political theory, democratic crisis, political ideologies, and Brazilian political thought. Rather than treating political ideologies as static abstractions, his scholarship employs a socio-legal and historical approach to examine how contemporary actors mobilize reactionary and anti-liberal sentiments. This framework is central to his book O populismo reacionário: ascensão e legado do bolsonarismo (2022, co-authored with Christian Lynch), which analyzes the structural drivers of Brazil’s far-right movement. A co-coordinator of the Beemote and NUTEPI research groups, Cassimiro is also a prominent public intellectual, frequently contributing sharp empirical analysis to media outlets like Deutsche Welle and Canal Meio on high-stakes electoral dynamics, poll subestimation, and systemic challenges to democratic resilience.