State power legitimacy in Brazilian democracy
| Autor | Luciana Cristina de Souza |
| Ocupação do Autor | Doctorate Degree in Law at Catholic University of Minas Gerais (2012) |
| Páginas | 1661-1683 |
Working Group: Law and democracy • 1661
Luciana Cristina de Souza1
Abstract: This article debates about resilience principle, imported for us from
Physics with the intention to use this concept to equalize the relationship be-
tween State and Civil Society inside de Rule of Law, but not cloistered for it.
Underour pointof viewLaw bornsin themiddle ofthe politicaland ocial
branches, but also it comes from Society too, composing its dual aspect. We do
not use classical bibliography about State power for this essay because in this
new approach concerning democracy we want to understand the cooperative in-
teractionbetweenocialbranchesandCitizensmediatedbyLawlikeabound-
ary issue, which is marked by the conceptions of “essentiality” and “resilience”
of social and political structures. The resilience principle is, for us, a condition
to establish a parameter for evaluating the quality of democracy in Brazil nowa-
days, once it is a way to measure State power legitimacy, which one is measure,
in its turn, by the quality of Citizenship. If the Citizens do not have democratic
access, if they can not be cooperative with the State in the public discussions,
they are not true Citizens, because the boundary between State and Society is
stienedResilienceis theoppositeof thatitrepresents exibilitywithstabil-
ityintherelationshipbetweenStateandSocietyCitizenssincethisprinciple
aims to maintain a balance between the essential elements of Rule of Law and
the growing demand by inclusive democracy in Brazil today. In fact, without
inclusion of all Citizens, they will become “Sub-citizens”, speechless and the
State will not be legitimate. This balance between this two subjects, State and
CivilSocietyCitizensareimperativetoactualBraziliandemocracy
Keywords: Brazil; Citizenship; Democracy; Legitimacy; Resilience
1
Doctorate Degree in Law at Catholic University of Minas Gerais (2012); Master Degree
in Sociology at Federal University of Minas Gerais (2005); Professor of Sociology of Law
at Milton Campos Law School, Nova Lima (Minas Gerais); Professor at IBS, certied by
Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais); Researcher of National Coun-
cil of Research (CNPq), in Brazil; Associeted to the National Council of Research about
Law (CONPEDI), in Brazil, and to the International Sociological Association (ISA);
Lawyer. E-mail: dralucianacsouza@gmail.com
1662 • XXVI World Congress of Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy
Nowadaysin Brazil democracy is been redened Despiteits
greek inspiration and the Enlightenment principles, today our mean-
ings for categories as “individual”, “State”, “popular participation”,
responsivityandrationalityareverydierentthantraditionalstud-
ies showed, they are more deliberative and it demands new capacities
from ocial branches before the Citizen needs of eective participa-
tion in public decisions. The individual is a new category because he
represents itself and, at the same time, a fragmented group created by
socialnetworkslikeFacebookandTwierthatinuences hisbehavior
(HALPERN, 2013; PARENTE, 2007), which are very important in Bra-
zilian political and social context due to their amplitude and cost. Our
country has serious problems of education and information access – ac-
cording 2012 International Seminar “Regulation of Public Communica-
tion” speakers, hosted in Brazil, few families, about only six, behest 70%
ofourmediaandtoolslikethosecouldopentoCitizensdierentways
to interact, to show their opinions and to organize actions with other
people to improve their Citizenship and solve social issues.
Thisnewrealityitisverydierentthanpreviousnotionsofso-
cial movements in Brazil. How explain William César Castilho Pereira
(2001) and José de Souza Martins (2000), because they was supported
by strong identity of groups – students, unions, associations, etc. – that
guaranteedtheirwayofghtforrecognitioninaveryparticularmanner
they use to defended mostly private and particular interests longed for
their group, because their interaction depended on their similar identity
one to another. The traditional social movements are much institutional-
ized too, and some of them, like unions and non-governmental organi-
zationshaveinternalstrugglesbypowerandreceivenancialsupport
from public funds, which causes interference of the State in many of its
decisions (for example, art. 149, Constitution of Federative Republic of
Brazil, 1988, and art. 9º, Federal Rule n. 9.790, 1999).
Nowadays, plurality is emphasized and there are social nets that
exchange information and resources together solving some nancial
problems caused by State dependency of social movements which im-
posed obligations in the past. The net organization of Citizens in Brazil
empowers day by day the individual and social movements providing
them with real time information and funds for actions. The plural and
diverse net condition also enables transversal interests, like environmen-
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