Following the analytical framework proposed in this book, this chapter explores the social context that enabled the legitimation of domestic military deployments in Brazil. It is argued that the dominant discourse presented in Chapter 4 relied on a particular ideational topography, comprised by a set of ideational sources, i.e. intersubjectively shared ideas about the role of the armed forces and its relationship with the Brazilian state and society. They were assessed by analyzing the array of attributes, the army historically congregated into the figure of its patron, Duque de Caxias, in the attempt to construct a sense of institutional identity. Two main ideational sources were identified: (a) the ideal citizen, which frames the military as the benchmark of morality and responsible to educate of society; (b) the apolitical politician, portraying the armed forces as technically competent and politically neutral.