The Rule of Law in Brazil: The Legal Construction of Inequality

Description

This book provides a broad perspective of the functioning, evolution, and dynamics of the rule of law in Brazil. It stresses not only how the rule of law has developed in the legal system, but also how the political institutions and extra-legal organisations have transformed its foundations. The rule of law is not a simple concept when it comes to defining the political, economic, and legal developments of a country like Brazil. Similar to many other Latin American countries, Brazil is a young democracy struggling with its longstanding extractive institutions and entrenched interests. It features, however, one of Latin America's richest constitutional moments, when civil society actively participated in drafting the most democratic constitution in the country's history. Brazil has since strengthened its institutions and the rule of law, but the road toward consolidating them has been challenged by inequality and the legacies of that authoritarian past. The book explores how Brazilian democracy has dealt with the high levels of social inequality and the authoritarian mindset that still play a big role in its fate, and asks whether the country's democratic achievements and institutional framework are sufficiently strong to enforce the rule of law as an imperative for Brazil's development, especially in times when the country is most in need of them.

Juliano Zaiden Benvindo is Professor of Constitutional Law and Head of the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies at the University of Brasilia, Brazil.

Democracy and the rule of law are under serious stress in Brazil. But what explains this current crisis in democratic constitutionalism in Brazil, and what can be done to address it? In this important and insightful new book, leading Brazilian scholar Juliano Zaiden Benvindo takes on these and other questions, to offer a fresh and vital account of the rule of law in Brazil. * Rosalind Dixon * Juliano Benvindo's book is one of the most accurate and intense reconstructions of the rule of law in Brazil. By Innovating the constitutional and political science's perspectives on a jurisdiction still understudied abroad, Benvindo's analysis provides a unique account of the severest causes for the rule of law failures in this country: the normalisation of both social inequality and authoritarian mindset. By examining whether the institutional framework under construction can help the rule of law to foster an adequate development for Brazil, "The Rule of Law in Brazil: The Legal Construction of Inequality" delves into topics such as the coalition presidentialism, the judicial system, the accountability institutions, the role of international law and the future of the rule of law. Much more than a case study, this book also offers a transdisciplinary point of view that will, for sure, contribute to the rule of law comparative studies. * Emilio Peluso Neder Meyer * There is no better book on the modern challenges in state and society in Brazil. Drawing from history, law, economics, philosophy and politics, Juliano Zaiden Benvindo plays tour guide, analyst and critic, asking the key question that will determine the fate of the country: can Brazilians meet the high expectations the Constitution sets for them? This book is Benvindo at his best: astute, deliberative, provocative and masterful. An essential book for anyone interested in contemporary Brazil, the rule of law, and the long march toward equality in the world. * Richard Albert *