Constitutionalism and democracy in comparative perspective

• Grant number: 14/24579-0
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - International
• Start date: March 14, 2015
• End date: March 26, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - State and Government
• Principal Investigator: Rogério Bastos Arantes
• Grantee: Rogério Bastos Arantes
• Visiting researcher: Gabriel Leonardo Negretto
• Visiting researcher institution: Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), Mexico
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project is dedicated to the study of relations between Constitutionalism and Democracy in Brazil and in a comparative perspective. In continuity with previous studies, conducted in partnership with Claudio Gonçalves Couto, the project presents the main theoretical elements that guide the research - especially the Methodology of Constitutional Analysis that we managed to develop in recent years - and establishes more specific objectives of research for the period 2015/2017. In the first stage of the research we focus our analysis on the 1988 Brazilian Constitution. However, to reach a broader theoretical formulation on the role of constitutions in the political system and its impact on the government's dynamic, it is necessary to compare national cases. Based on Methodology of Constitutional Analysis, we intend to analyze constitutions of other countries, distinguishing inside them the elements of policy or polity, to verify to what extent the different balance between these two regulatory elements within a Charter affects first the how a country is governed and second the way political actors deal with the Constitution. The contribution of Gabriel Negretto will be essential to the success of this new stage of the research. (AU)