Concentrated controls of constitutionality and public policies: the policy attention of the STF and the agenda-setting process in Brazil

• Grant number: 21/07345-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: September 01, 2021
• End date: January 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - Public Policies
• Principal Investigator: Felipe Gonçalves Brasil
• Grantee: Lorraine Saldanha Freitas Xavier de Souza
• Host Institution: Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades (EACH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 20/07485-3 - Dynamic attention and agenda-setting in Brazil (Brazilian Policy Agendas Project), AP.JP
• Associated scholarship(s): 22/03961-0 - Concentrated controls of constitutionality and public policies: the policy attention of the Brazilian Supreme Court and the agenda-setting process in Brazil, BE.EP.MS

Abstract

This master's research project, linked to the main objectives of the Young Researcher project (Process FAPESP 2020/07485-3) "Brazilian Policy Agendas Project", aims to map, classify and analyze the extent to which the decisions of the Brazilian Supreme Court - the Federal Supreme Court - in the exercise of concentrated control of constitutionality, they may be able to guide the formation of the Brazilian governmental agenda. Considering the STF as a highly relevant institution and locus of power for the scheduling and formulation of public policies, the attention of magistrates and the Judiciary is analyzed in order to identify the issues dealt with over time, as well as variations and maintenance in the themes taken to the plenary of the highest level of the national judiciary. To this end, concentrated control decisions arising from direct unconstitutionality actions (ADI), direct unconstitutionality actions by default (ADO) and the allegation of non-compliance with a fundamental precept (ADPF) issued between 2011 and 2021 will be analyzed. Such methodological and instrumental choices, observed through the lens of the policy process and the agenda-setting literature, will point out both the number of actions and the public policy themes judged by the Supreme Court throughout the Dilma, Temer and Bolsonaro administrations. The assumption of "judiciary activism" in Brazil will be put to the test when we observe the existence, frequency, continuities and discontinuities in the judgment of issues dear to society, especially those related to individual and collective rights and guarantees. The questions that guide this work are: What issues are the subject of the Supreme Court judgment in the exercise of concentrated control of constitutionality? Are there differences between the number of actions proposed over the period analyzed? Is there still a relationship between the Judiciary agenda and the performance of the Executive and Legislative powers with regard to the theme of actions? Can the STF, in the exercise of concentrated control of constitutionality, be understood as a visible and active actor in the formation of the Brazilian government agenda? The longitudinal analysis that encompasses the last 10 years of Brazilian democracy goes through critical moments and strong institutional instabilities, marked by a strong performance of the judiciary in an attempt to maintain democracy, institutions and the constitutional precepts agreed upon in 1988. (AU)