Justice And Democracy In Brazil

This book details the struggle to establish and maintain democracy and justice in Brazil after 2000. From 1964 to 1984, Brazil had a dictatorship, which was followed by democratic elections. Later, from 2003 to 2016, the nation enjoyed a very popular and democratic government under President Lula and President Dilma, who created many social and educational programs that raised 32 million people out of extreme poverty. However, as this book highlights, since 2013, the nation has witnessed the rise of a very conservative movement, which led to the impeachment of President Dilma (2016), to the imprisonment of President Lula (2018) and to the election of a right-wing president, who represented a decline in democracy and rights from 2018 to 2022. In 2022, we had new elections, with the victory of President Lula, who took office on January 1, 2023. This book advocates for a new period in Brazilian politics, with full democracy, respect for the rule of law and social justice.

In this riveting follow-up to his acclaimed international bestseller No Place to Hide, Glenn Greenwald documents the courageous fight for press freedom in Brazil, where authoritarianism and rampant corruption threaten the most fundamental principles of democracy. In 2019, award-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald writes in his gripping new book, “a series of events commenced that once again placed me at the heart of a sustained and explosive journalistic controversy.” New reporting by Greenwald and a team of Brazilian journalists had brought to light stunning information about grave corruption, deceit, and wrongdoing by the most powerful political actors in Brazil, his home since 2005. These stories, based on a massive trove of previously undisclosed telephone calls, audio, and text shared by an anonymous source, came to light only months after the January 2019 inauguration of Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump. The revelations “had an explosive impact on Brazilian politics” (Guardian) and prompted serious rancor, including direct attacks by President Bolsonaro himself, and ultimately an attempt by the government to criminally prosecute Greenwald for his reporting. “A wave of death threats — in a country where political violence is commonplace — have poured in, preventing me from ever leaving my house for any reason without armed guards and an armored vehicle,” Greenwald writes. Securing Democracy takes readers on a gripping journey through Brazilian politics as Greenwald, his husband, the left-wing congressman David Miranda, and a powerful opposition movement courageously challenge political corruption, homophobia, and tyranny. Most vitally, Greenwald demonstrates the importance of independent journalism in holding governments to account, reversing injustices, and ultimately securing the freedoms of democracy.

In 2019, award-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald writes in this gripping new book, "a series of events commenced that once again placed me at the heart of a sustained and explosive journalistic controversy." New reporting by Greenwald and his team of Brazilian journalists brought to light stunning information about grave corruption, deceit, and wrongdoing by the most powerful political actors in Brazil, his home since 2005. These stories, based on a massive trove of previously undisclosed telephone calls, audio, and text shared by an anonymous source, came to light only months after the January 2019 inauguration of Brazil 's far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, an ally of President Trump. The revelations "had an explosive impact on Brazilian politics" (The Guardian) and prompted serious rancor, including direct attacks by President Bolsonaro himself, and ultimately an attempt by the government to criminally prosecute Greenwald for his reporting. "A wave of death threats--in a country where political violence is commonplace--have poured in, preventing me from ever leaving my house for any reason without armed guards and an armored vehicle," Greenwald writes. Securing Democracy takes readers on a fascinating ride through Brazilian politics as Greenwald, his husband, the left-wing Congressman David Miranda, and a powerful opposition movement courageously challenge political corruption, homophobia, and tyranny. While coming at serious personal costs for himself and his family, Greenwald writes, "I have no doubt at all that the revelations we were able to bring to the public strengthened Brazilian democracy in an enduring and fundamental way. I believe we righted wrongs, reversed injustices, and exposed grave corruption." The story, he concludes, "highlights the power of transparency and the reason why a free press remains the essential linchpin for securing democracy."

Brazil has the tragic distinction of having endured the longest military-authoritarian regime in South America. Yet the country is distinctive for another reason: in the 1970s and 1980s it witnessed the emergence and development of perhaps the largest, most diverse, most radical, and most successful women's movement in contemporary Latin America. This book tells the compelling story of the rise of progressive women's movements amidst the climate of political repression and economic crisis enveloping Brazil in the 1970s, and it devotes particular attention to the gender politics of the final stages of regime transition in the 1980s. Situating Brazil in a comparative theoretical framework, the author analyzes the relationship between nonrevolutionary political change and changes in women's consciousness and mobilization. Her engaging analysis of the potentialities for promoting social justice and transforming relations of inequality for women and men in Latin America and elsewhere in the Third World makes this book essential reading for all students and teachers of Latin American politics, comparative social movements and public policy, and women's studies and feminist political theory.

This present book examines some of the key features of the interplay between legal history, authoritarian rule and political transitions in Brazil and other countries from the end of 20th Century until today. This book casts light on these aspects of the role of law and legal actors/institutions. In the context of transition from authoritarian rule to democratic state, Brazil has produced a significant literature on the challenges and shortcomings of the transition, but little attention has been given to the role of law and legal actors/institutions. Different approaches focus on the legal mechanisms, discourses and practices used by the military regime and by the players involved in the political transition process in Brazil. A comparative perspective that takes into account different political transitions – and their legal consequences – in Europe and Latin America complements the analysis. Part 1 (4 essays) discusses some of the central issues of political transition and legal history in contemporary Brazil, focusing on the time of the transition (and its effects on transitional justice) with different perspectives, from racial and gender issues to constitutional reform and police repression. Part 2 (3 essays) brings the comparative studies on South American experiences. Part 3 (4 essays) analyses different cases of transition to democracy in Chile, Portugal, Spain and Italy. Part 4 (3 essays) proposes a historiographical and methodological approach, considering the politics of time involved in the interplay between political transitions and legal history.

Demonstrates how specific dimensions of democracy - participation, citizenship rights, and an inclusionary state - enhance human development and well-being.

Activating Democracy in Brazil examines Brazil's participatory citizenship regime and the rise of democratic institutions in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, which has transformed the way Brazilians work together politically.

Courts, like other government institutions, shape public policy. But how are courts drawn into the policy process, and how are patterns of policy debate shaped by the institutional structure of the courts? Drawing on the experience of the Brazilian federal courts since the transition to democracy, Judging Policy examines the judiciary's role in public policy debates. During a period of energetic policy reform, the high salience of many policies, combined with the conducive institutional structure of the judiciary, ensured that Brazilian courts would become an important institution at the heart of the policy process. The Brazilian case thus challenges the notion that Latin America's courts have been uniformly pliant or ineffectual, with little impact on politics and policy outcomes. Judging Policy also inserts the judiciary into the scholarly debate regarding the extent of presidential control of the policy process in Latin America's largest nation. By analyzing the full Brazilian federal court system—including not only the high court, but also trial and appellate courts—the book develops a framework with cross-national implications for understanding how courts may influence policy actors' political strategies and the distribution of power within political systems.

Introduction : the accountability function of courts in new democracies / Siri Gloppen, Roberto Gargarella, and Elin Skaar Judicial review in developed democracies / Martin Shapiro How some reflections on the United States' experience may inform African efforts to build court systems and the rule of law / Jennifer Widner The constitutional court and control of presidential extraordinary powers in Colombia / Rodrigo Uprimny The politics of judicial review in Chile in the era of domestic transition, 1990-2002 / Javier A. Couso Legitimating transformation : political resource allocation in the South African constitutional court / Theunis Roux The accountability function of courts in Tanzania and Zambia / Siri Gloppen Renegotiating "law and order" : judicial reform and citizen responses in post-war Guatemala / Rachel Sieder Economic reform and judicial governance in Brazil : balancing independence with accountability / Carlos Santiso In search of a democratic justice what courts should not do : Argentina, 1983-2002 / Roberto Gargarella Lessons learned and the way forward / Irwin P. Stotzky.

Glenn Greenwald's riveting follow up to his acclaimed international best-seller No Place to Hide.