19 Februar 2021
Brazilian Democracy Under Military Tutelage
The relationship between the military and the civilian government is one that has defined the whole constitutional history of Brazil and could pave the way for a collapse of democracy. A few days ago, former Army General Villas Bôas revealed in an interview how the armed forces exercised pressure in 2018 against the Federal Supreme Court in the case of former President Lula. The threats made by General Villas Bôas demonstrate the fragility of the Brazilian democracy. Conflicts between the military and courts have been growing, and Bolsonaro has intensified the situation by increasingly involving military personnel in politics and making access to guns easier for the general public. Continue reading >>
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19 August 2020
Abortion in Times of Disinformation
It should have been as straightforward as that. A ten-year-old is raped and now is pregnant. According to Brazilian law, she has the right to terminate her pregnancy at will. However, the girl from our tale yet again has her most fundamental rights violated. Continue reading >>
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31 Juli 2020
No Need for a New Constitution in Brazil
In two recent articles, published in English and Portuguese, Professor Bruce Ackerman argued that the roots of Brazil’s political crisis, with the rise of extremist factions to power, is the 1988 Constitution and the presidential system it established. Under Ackerman’s account, the best response to such crisis would be to convene a new Constituent Assembly in 2023 in order to set up a parliamentary system, while also allowing the constituent delegates to “reconsider key decisions by the Assembly of 1988”. In this article, we intend to engage in this debate by explaining why the intent to promulgate a new Constitution might make things even worse. Continue reading >>10 April 2020
Pushing the Boundaries of Legal Normality
The Brazilian Emergency Constitution is still dormant, instead “legislative and executive apparatuses” are used to “enforce measures for protecting public health”. But that does not mean, that emergency powers in Brazil are not yet in reach: While we patiently wait for the Emergency Constitution to wake up from its doctrinal sleep, legislation has already bypassed it and is venturing into uncharted territory. Continue reading >>
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08 April 2020
Authoritarianism Without Emergency Powers: Brazil Under COVID-19
One of the few heads of state that insist on denying scientific and epidemiologic facts concerning the spread of COVID-19 is the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. For Bolsonaro, politics comes before truth. Since the beginning of the pandemic of COVID-19, he is disseminating doubts on social media (although Twitter, Facebook and Instagram deleted some of his posts) to galvanize his radical supporters while creating a distraction for his government’s inability to implement social and economic aids to the low-income families affected by social distancing. For the moment, the president has failed to gather the public support that he needs for an extension of the emergency powers of the executive, like Orbán did in Hungary. But his authoritarian discourse has not disappeared from the horizon. On 31st March 2020, for instance, Bolsonaro celebrated the anniversary of the Coup of 1964 as a “great day for freedom”. Continue reading >>30 November 2015
While in the USA money talks loud politically, in Brazil it must shut up
Brazil used to occupy global headlines with a virtuous cycle of a struggle against inequality combined with the eradication of extreme poverty and the establishment of a vast middle class. In doing so, the country personified the South American dream, namely material prosperity allied with social progress. Nonetheless, a couple of months ago, things changed dramatically. An endless economic crisis boosted by an unprecedented operation run by the Federal Police saw to it that numerous CEOs of multi-billion dollar companies were incarcerated. The common factor of these events: campaign donations. Propelled by this atmosphere, the Brazilian Supreme Court has handed down two recent decisions that impose a drastic end to a complex set of inconvenient relations maintained between the public and the private sector. Continue reading >>
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