Legal professionals and democracy: local-global strugles to reshape professional forces in the judicial and public safety systems

• Grant number: 21/12714-4
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• Start date: July 01, 2023
• End date: June 30, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology
• Principal Investigator: Maria da Gloria Bonelli
• Grantee: Maria da Gloria Bonelli
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Pesquisadores principais: Jacqueline Sinhoretto
• Associated researchers: Fabiana Luci de Oliveira ; Fabio Costa Morais de Sá e Silva ; Fiona Jane Macaulay ; Frederico Normanha Ribeiro de Almeida ; Maria Gorete Marques de Jesus ; Sida Liu
• Associated scholarship(s): 23/12533-5 - Brazil's Supreme Court within the context of the erosion of democracy and democratic resistance, BE.PQ; 24/19081-5 - Anti-democratic practices, discourses and movements on the border between the professions of justice and public security: deepening investigations into external control of military police action and the limits of the legal professions, BP.TT; 24/07180-9 - Interface of Legal Professions and Public Safety, BP.PD; + associated scholarships 23/14410-8 - Caring or Punishment: disputes on truth building on drug user on judiciary elite and mental health professionals discourse., BP.MS; 24/02772-5 - Tug of War Surrounding the Strength and Weakening of Justice Institutions, BP.IC; 24/02853-5 - Practices, discourses and movements on the border between the justice and public security professions: legislative changes and judicial controversies (2016-2023), BP.TT; 23/15541-9 - Anti-democratic practices, discourses and movements on the border between the professions of justice and public security: external control of military police action, BP.TT; 23/18383-5 - Disputes in the legal professions regarding the democratic rule of law, the boundaries with politics and the global-local flows of anti-democratic ideas, BP.PD; 23/13510-9 - Erosion and democratic resistance in the constitutionality control of federal policies by the STF in the period 2019-2022, BP.IC; 23/13628-0 - The professional tug-of-war between democratic and antidemocratic agenda among Brazilian lawyers., BP.IC; 23/12940-0 - Professionalism and gender in the tug of war between democratic and antidemocratic agenda in the legal profession, BP.TT; 23/13345-8 - Importation/exportation of antidemocratic political-juridical ideas and models in justice and security within the Brazil/USA axis: Mapping of Actors and Networks., BP.TT; 23/13218-6 - Role of professional women in legal-moral disputes across the borders of public safety, criminal justice and politics., BP.TT - associated scholarships

Abstract

The relationship between legal professions and politics occupies a central place within Brazilian social science and political debate. Classical studies converge in their understanding that legal professionals comprise an ambiguous group which generally shares a moderate liberalism, tending towards conservatism. Contemporarily, this pendulum has swung in an antidemocratic direction. This suggests the emergence of conflicts around legal and public safety professions' relationship to democracy. Our point of departure here are contemporary developments within the sociology of professions, and in particular, the understanding that the social construction of professions occurs not only through the establishment of tight boundaries to demarcate a professional practice, but also a sort of blurring of boundaries - between the professional and the political, or between different established types of profession. Our proposal aims at a better understanding of this intriguing scenario. We work with the image of a "tug-of-war" between democratic and antidemocratic positions, seeking to observe and understand the different meanings that such tensions may acquire on the boundaries between professions and politics, between professional segments or between justice and public safety professionals. For these purposes, we propose the use of multiple methods, including a survey of justice and public safety elites, collection and analysis of documents, inquiry into media and social networks, observation of institutional practices and semi-structured interviews with legal and public safety professionals. (AU)