Constitutionalism and rights protection in Mexico and Brazil: comparative remarks
| Autor | Francisca Pou Giménez |
| Cargo | Professor of Law at Instituto Tecnológico Autônomo do México (Ciudad de México, México) |
| Páginas | 233-255 |
Licenciado sob uma Licença Creative Commons
Licensed under Creative Commons
Revista de Investigações Constitucionais, Curitiba, vol. 5, n. 3, p. 233-255, set./dez. 2018. 233
Constitutionalism and rights protection in
Mexico and Brazil: comparative remarks
Constitucionalismo e proteção de direitos no México
e no Brasil: observações comparadas
FRANCISCA POU GIMÉNEZ*
Instituto Tecnológico Autônomo do México (México)
francisca.pou@itam.mx
Recebido/Received: 13.08.2018 / August 13th, 2018
Aprovado/Approved: 30.08.2018 / August 30th, 2018
Revista de Investigações Constitucionais
ISSN 2359-5639
DOI: 10.5380/rinc.v5i3.60972
Abstract
Comparative exercises between constitutional law in Bra-
zil and in Mexico may seem destined to be exercises of
identifying a reduced set of commonalities in an ocean of
dierence. The article, however, aims to suggest to what
extent the opposite might be closer to the truth, and
provide some sense of the amount of parallels between
the two countries when viewed through constitutional
lenses. Despite divergent paths of historical evolution
in the XIX and the XX centuries, there are elements that
confer to contemporary constitutional systems in Brazil
and Mexico an air of commonality. The article underlines
at least three of them: (i) commonalities in patterns of
constitutional genesis and change; (ii) the existence of
generous constitutional declarations of rights coupled
with a varied assortment of rights-protecting channels in
both places; and (iii) the existence in the two countries of
old Supreme Courts with extensive jurisdictional menus
and ample space for transformative action at their dis-
posal. On the other hand, the main dierences identied
and analyzed in the article occur in the domain of rights
Resumo
Realizar uma análise comparativa entre o Direito Consti-
tucional no Brasil e no México pode parecer ser uma tarefa
destinada a ser um exercício de identicação de um conjun-
to reduzido de pontos comuns em um oceano de diferen-
ças. O artigo, no entanto, pretende sugerir que a posição
exatamente oposta está mais próxima da realidade e assim
fornecer alguma noção da quantidade de paralelos que po-
dem ser traçados entre os dois países quando vistos através
de lentes constitucionais. Apesar dos caminhos divergentes
de evolução histórica nos séculos XIX e XX, há elementos
que conferem aos sistemas constitucionais contemporâ-
neos no Brasil e no México um ar de identidade. O artigo
destaca pelo menos três deles: (i) semelhanças nos padrões
de gênese e de reforma constitucional; (ii) a existência de
generosas declarações constitucionais de direitos, combi-
nadas com uma variedade de instrumentos de proteção
desses direitos; e (iii) a existência nos dois países de Supre-
mas Cortes antigas e com extensos “menus jurisdicionais”
e amplo espaço à sua disposição para atuar de um modo
transformador na sociedade. Por outro lado, as principais
Como citar esse artigo/How to cite this article: POU GIMÉNEZ, Francisca. Constitutionalism and rights protection in Mexico and
Brazil: comparative remarks. Revista de Investigações Constitucionais, Curitiba, v. 5, n. 3, p. 233-255, set./dez. 2018. DOI: DOI:
10.5380/rinc.v5i3.60972.
* Professor of Law at Instituto Tecnológico Autônomo do México (Ciudad de México, México). JSD and LLM at Yale University (New
Haven, United States of America). Degree of Law at Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona, Spain). E-mail: francisca.pou@itam.mx.
Revista de Investigações Constitucionais, Curitiba, vol. 5, n. 3, p. 117-135, set./dez. 2018.
FRANCISCA POU GIMÉNEZ
234 Revista de Investigações Constitucionais, Curitiba, vol. 5, n. 3, p. 233-255, set./dez. 2018.
234
CONTENTS
1. Introduction; 2. Constitutional genesis and constitutional change; 3. Generous rights declarations
and rights-protecting devices; 4. Two big, monarchical Supreme Courts; 5. A dis-analogy: rights revolu-
tion versus rights frustration; 6. Conclusion; 7. References.
1. INTRODUCTION
Doing comparative analysis between Mexico and Brazil is a thrilling prospect.
At the outset, the two countries look like an odd couple —the surprising conuence of
two Latin American giants with very little in common. They are far removed from one
another in popular imagination, and even geographically, and both enjoy a tradition of
thinking of themselves as self-standing societies —as almost separated “continents” wi-
thin a wider Latin American space they are largely unaware of in daily life. The reading
of Octavio Paz’s famous portrayal of the Mexican soul, the Labyrinth of Solitude, already
suggests that much,1 and at a more pedestrian level there is little doubt that in Mexi-
co many dimensions of life unfold with scarce external horizons: South America feels
far removed, the United States represent the “other” one should ward o, and Central
America and the Caribbean are systematically ignored. With regards Brazil, Roberto Un-
ger eloquently evocates an analogous idea in Democracy Realized when identifying the
country as one of the very few that enjoy the size and the social and cultural resources
to “imagine itself as something of a world unto itself rather than as a satellite to some
other system”.2
Comparative exercises between Brazil and Mexico seem therefore destined to
be exercises of identifying a reduced set of commonalities in an ocean of dierence. In
this exploratory contribution, I want to suggest to what extent the opposite might be
closer to the truth, and provide some sense of the amount of parallels between the two
countries when viewed through constitutional lenses —well beyond what would be
expected from their naturally being two contemporary Latin American democracies.
1 PAZ, Octavio. El laberinto de la soledad. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1994.
2 UNGER, Roberto Mangabeira. Democracy realized. The progressive alternative. London: Verso, 1998.
protection and include the system of judicial enforce-
ment of rights and the public prole of the two Supreme
Courts.
Keywords: constitutionalism; Comparative Law; Brazil;
Mexico; Supreme Court.
diferenças identicadas e analisadas no artigo ocorrem no
domínio da proteção de direitos e incluem o sistema de exe-
cução judicial e o perl público das duas Supremas Cortes.
Palavras-chave: constitucionalismo; direito comparado;
Brasil; México; Suprema Corte.
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