The Brazilian Constitution of 1988 and its ancient ghosts: comparison, history and the ever-present need to fight authoritarianism
| Autor | Fernando José Gonçalves Acunha, Mohamed A. Arafa, Juliano Zaiden Benvindo |
| Cargo | Professor of Constitutional Law at Centro Universitário de Brasília ? UniCEUB (Brasília-DF, Brazil). PhD in Constitutional Law at University of Brasília (Brasília-DF, Brazil)/Adjunct Professor of Islamic Law at Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law (Indianapolis, United States of America)/Professor of Constitutional Law at ... |
| Páginas | 17-41 |
Licenciado sob uma Licença Creative Commons
Licensed under Creative Commons
Revista de Investigações Constitucionais, Curitiba, vol. 5, n. 3, p. 17-41, set./dez. 2018.
DOI: 10.5380/rinc.v5i3.60962
The Brazilian Constitution of 1988 and its ancient ghosts:
comparison, history and the ever-present need
to ght authoritarianism
A Constituição Brasileira de 1988 e seus fantasmas do passado:
comparação, história e a sempre presente necessidade
de lutar contra o autoritarismo
FERNANDO JOSÉ GONÇALVES ACUNHA*
Centro Universitário de Brasília – UniCEUB (Brazil)
fernandojgacunha@gmail.com
MOHAMED A. ‘ARAFA**
Indiana University School of Law (United States of America)
Alexandria University Faculty of Law (Egypt)
marafa@iupui.edu
JULIANO ZAIDEN BENVINDO***
Universidade de Brasília (Brazil)
juliano@unb.br
Recebido/Received: 12.08.2018 / August 12th, 2018
Aprovado/Approved: 30.08.2018 / August 30th’, 2018
Como citar esse artigo/How to cite this article: ACUNHA, Fernando José Gonçalves; ‘ARAFA, Mohamed A.; BENVINDO, Juliano
Zaiden. The Brazilian Constitution of 1988 and its ancient ghosts: comparison, history and the ever-present need to ght author-
itarianism. Revista de Investigações Constitucionais, Curitiba, vol. 5, n. 3, p.17-41, set./dez. 2018. DOI: 10.5380/rinc.v5i3.60962.
* Professor of Constitutional Law at Centro Universitário de Brasília – UniCEUB (Brasília-DF, Brazil). PhD in Constitutional Law at
University of Brasília (Brasília-DF, Brazil). MSc. at University of Brasília (Brasília-DF, Brazil). Graduated from Federal University of
Paraná (Curitiba-PR, Brazil). E-mail: fernandojgacunha@gmail.com.
** Adjunct Professor of Islamic Law at Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law (Indianapolis, United States of
America). Assistant Professor of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at Alexandria University Faculty of Law (Alexandria, Egypt).
Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.), 2013, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. Master of Laws (LL.M.) in American
Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, 2008, University of Connecticut School of Law (USA). Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.), 2006, Alexandria
University, Faculty of Law (“English” Department) (Alexandria, Egypt). Visiting Scholar/Professor at Cornell Law School (Ithaca,
United States of America) in 2018-2019. E-mail: marafa@iupui.edu.
*** Professor of Constitutional Law at University of Brasília (Brasília-DF, Brazil). PhD in Constitutional Law at Humboldt University
(Berlin, Germany). PhD in Constitutional Law at University of Brasília (Brasília-DF, Brazil). MSc. at University of Brasília (Brasília-DF,
Brazil). Gratuated from University of Brasília (Brasília-DF, Brazil). Research Fellow of the Brazilian National Council for Scientic
and Technological Development (CNPq, n. 308733/2015-0). E-mail: juliano@unb.br.
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Revista de Investigações Constitucionais
ISSN 2359-5639
DOI: 10.5380/rinc.v5i3.60962
18
FERNANDO JOSÉ GONÇALVES ACUNHA | MOHAMED A. ‘ARAFA | JULIANO ZAIDEN BENVINDO
Revista de Investigações Constitucionais, Curitiba, vol. 4, n. 1, p., jan./abr. 2017.
Revista de Investigações Constitucionais, Curitiba, vol. 5, n. 3, p. 17-41, set./dez. 2018.
CONTENTS
1. Introduction; 2. The Authoritarian Ghosts in Brazil and Egypt; 3. Brazilian Democratic Crisis and
its Authoritarian Origin: How an Unresolved Past may Endanger Present and Future? 4. Conclusions;
5. References.
1. INTRODUCTION
It comes as no surprise that Brazil is facing one of its most severe political crises
since 2016. Part of the literature even classify current developments as “the greatest
constitutional crisis since 1988”.1 But its origins are no novelty to researchers that dedi-
cate time to analyzing Brazilian constitutional history. As two of us described in a previ-
ous work, “Brazil’s contemporary democratic downturn seems to be grounded in more
1 See PAIXÃO, Cristiano. 30 anos: crise e futuro da Constituição de 1988. JOTA, [s.l.], May, 3 2018. Avai-
lable at: <https://www.jota.info/opiniao-e-analise/artigos/30-anos-crise-e-futuro- da-constituicao-de-1988-
03052018>. Retrieved Jun. 5, 2018. The author understands that it is quite normal that constitutional democra-
cies undergo periods of crises; their Constitutions have precisely the role of providing parameters within which
disputes are to be fought and solved. What is extraordinary in the Brazilian political and constitutional land-
scapes these days is the fact that the crisis would be a de-constitutional one, which means that the 1988 Cons-
titution is being stripped away from some of its most important parts, and such process, if not stopped, can risk
the very future of the Constitution.
Abstract
Brazil is facing one of its most severe political crises since
2016, with several impacts in its gradual process of de-
mocratization. In this context, the main argument in this
work is that many of the ghosts that scary the Brazilian
society in the Twenty-First century are direct heirs of an
unresolved (pre-constitutional) past, whose risks can be
strongly perceived and whose solution is an urgent task.
Every time there is political turmoil and a disturbance to
the rule of law in the country, the support for democracy
seems to dwindle. In this vein, this article aims to explore
such contradictions and diculties and how they still
represent a threat to the Brazilian democracy through
an analysis dedicated to the complex and ambiguous
relation that the Constitution (and various of the Brazil-
ian institutions, like the Supreme Court) has (have) es-
tablished with the military dictatorship that lasted from
1964 until 1985. The authoritarian ghosts that up until
now haunts the Brazilian reality, though inevitable due
to the compromises that underpin it and the practices
that stubbornly replicate the past into the very present,
have at least to be disclosed and, as such, challenged by
a learning process that only a militant memory is capable
of making us aware of.
Keywords: Brazilian Constitution; democracy; authoritar-
ianism; military intervention; dictatorship.
Resumo
O Brasil enfrenta uma de suas crises políticas mais severas
desde 2016, com vários impactos em seu processo gradual
de democratização. Neste contexto, o principal argumento
neste trabalho é que muitos dos fantasmas que assustam a
sociedade brasileira no século XXI são heranças diretas de
um passado não-resolvido (pré-constitucional), cujos ris-
cos podem ser fortemente percebidos e cuja solução é uma
tarefa urgente. Toda vez que há turbulência política e uma
perturbação do Estado de Direito no país, o apoio à demo-
cracia parece diminuir. Nesse sentido, este artigo tem como
objetivo explorar tais contradições e diculdades e como
elas ainda representam uma ameaça à democracia brasi-
leira através de uma análise dedicada à relação complexa
e ambígua que a Constituição (e várias das instituições
brasileiras, como o Supremo Tribunal Federal) estabeleceu
com a ditadura militar que durou de 1964 a 1985. Os fan-
tasmas autoritários que até agora assombram a realidade
brasileira, embora inevitáveis devido aos compromissos
que a sustentam e às práticas que teimosamente replicam
o passado no presente, precisam ao menos ser revelados e,
a partir disso, desaados por um processo de aprendizagem
que apenas uma memória militante é capaz de nos tornar
conscientes.
Palavras-chave: Constituição Federal do Brasil; democra-
cia; autoritarismo; intervenção militar; ditadura.
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