—Juliano Zaiden Benvindo, University of Brasília and National Council for Scientific and Technological Development [Editors’ Note: This is one of our biweekly ICONnect columns. For more information on our four columnists for 2021, please see here.] A recent column published in The Economist titled ”The Problem of Latin America’s Proxy Presidents” raises the argument that,
The National Security Law and the Defense of Democratic Institutions in Brazil
—Clèmerson Merlin Clève, Federal University of Paraná and UniBrasil. “That anyone who possesses power has a tendency to abuse it is an eternal truth. They tend to go as far as the barriers will allow.” Baron de Montesquieu Brazil has been through, since the eighties, as of the enactment of the Constitution, a slow process
Lula is Free: The Brazilian Supreme Court’s Habeas Decision and the 2022 Election
—Felipe Oliveira de Sousa, Center for Law, Behaviour and Cognition (CLBC), Ruhr-Universität Bochum On March 8, 2021, Judge Edson Fachin from the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) made a decision that might decisively affect the course of the next presidential elections in Brazil, in 2022. Judge Fachin ordered the annulment of all decisions taken on four
The Historian of the Future in Brazilian Democracy: The Challenges of Interpreting and Comparing Events of Our Own Time
—Juliano Zaiden Benvindo, University of Brasília and National Council for Scientific and Technological Development [Editors’ Note: This is one of our biweekly ICONnect columns. For more information on our four columnists for 2021, please see here.] For a Brazilian, the prospect of Trump winning the US presidential elections in 2020 could mean that Brazil, with
Undemocratic Legislation to Undermine Freedom of Speech in Brazil
—Ulisses Levy Silvério dos Reis, The Federal University of the Semi-Arid Region – UFERSA, and Emilio Peluso Neder Meyer, The Federal University of Minas Gerais The 2018 general elections put the Brazilian political scenario in the center of the global debate on illiberal governments and democratic erosion. Jair Bolsonaro, a former Army officer who was
Constitutionalism and Multi-Level Governance: Ran Hirschl on Megacities in Constitutional Democracies
—Estefânia Maria de Queiroz Barboza, Federal University of Paraná, and Lucas Henrique Muniz da Conceição, Birkbeck College, University of London On October 30, the Brazilian Chapter of the ICON-S promoted an international conference on the theme of Megacities and Constitutional Law. Presenting his novel academic contribution Prof. Ran Hirschl provided a keynote address regarding his
The Paradoxical Nature of the “Ways of Moderation” in Brazilian Democracy
—Juliano Zaiden Benvindo, University of Brasília A controversial statement in Brazil these days, when President Jair Bolsonaro seems to have slowed down his blatantly authoritarian utterances, is that “institutions are functioning.” Carlos Pereira, a Brazilian leading political scientist, for example, has long argued that Brazil’s institutions are solid,[1] and, in a recent column for Estado
Old Wine in a New Bottle? A Response to Bruce Ackerman on Presidentialism in Brazil
—Luiz Guilherme Arcaro Conci, Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo; João Vitor Cardoso, University of Chile; Estefânia Maria de Queiroz Barboza, Federal University of Paraná; Glauco Salomão Leite Correio, Federal University of Paraíba; and João Paulo Allain Teixeira, Federal University of Pernambuco In his analysis on the backsliding of Brazilian democracy, Professor Bruce Ackerman not only
Freedom at Stake in Brazil: An Illiberal Project Unfolds Under Bolsonaro’s Regime
Special Series: Perspectives from Undergraduate Law Students –Pedro Abrantes Martins, Bachelor’s degree candidate, Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), Brazil; Research Fellow, Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development; member of the research group “Abusive Constitutionalism and Democratic Erosion,” UFPR Freedom is at stake in Brazil. In 2020 alone, the government and its enthusiasts launched
Compulsory Vaccination in Brazil: Anticipating the COVID-19 Vaccine Struggles
—Bruno Santos Cunha, City Attorney, Recife, Brazil In the last week of August 2020, the Brazilian Supreme Court had a peculiar case on its docket: the State of São Paulo was suing the parents of a 5 year-old child in order to compel them to regularize their child’s vaccination according to the mandatory vaccine calendar
