Study Shows How Legal Tools Are Used to Undermine Democracy in Brazil
Over the past 20 years, the percentage of the global population living under autocratic regimes has risen from 50% in 2003 to 71% in 2023. According to the V-Dem Index, which measures democracy worldwide, the level of democracy in 2023 has regressed to that of 1985. Concerned with this global democratic decline, researchers from FGV São Paulo Law School and international partners launched the project Rule of Law and Authoritarian Legalism in 2020. The project aims to investigate how legal tools are used to implement authoritarian agendas and how the law can serve as a means of resistance and defense of democracy.
The project has two main components: the first focuses on Brazil and brought together experts from various institutions and public policy areas to examine how the rise of authoritarianism between 2019 and 2022 affected their fields. The second is a comparative study in which Brazilian and international researchers analyze similarities and differences in democratic backsliding across more than 15 countries, exploring how the law has been used both to promote and to resist democratic erosion.
The main outcome of the national research was the publication of the book Rule of Law and Authoritarian Populism: Institutional Erosion and Resistance in Brazil (2018–22), edited by professors Oscar Vilhena Vieira, Raquel Pimenta, Fabio de Sá e Silva, and Marta Machado, and published in 2023 by FGV Press. The book presents original research on the legal strategies and mechanisms used by President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration to weaken democratic institutions and public policies.
Executive Power and Legal Instruments
The chapter by Oscar Vilhena Vieira, Rubens Glezer, and Ana Laura Barbosa highlights a central element of Bolsonaro’s modus operandi. Faced with difficulties in securing congressional support for legislation, the government advanced its agenda through decrees, provisional measures, and administrative orders—i.e., infralegal measures that bypass legislative approval and can be enacted unilaterally by the president. Researchers Marta Machado and Raquel Pimenta emphasize the role of historical legacies that have enabled authoritarian advances. Brazilian democracy has failed to resolve critical issues such as police violence and corruption, and the rise of authoritarianism has made addressing these challenges even harder.
The Role of the Supreme Court
The book also explores the role of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) during Bolsonaro’s presidency. Luciana Gross Cunha, Fabiana Luci de Oliveira, and Lívia Buzolin show that the STF was frequently activated by opposition parties and government critics, becoming a space of resistance where opposition forces could voice their demands. Eloísa Machado de Almeida and Luíza Pavan Ferraro analyze the behavior of the Office of the Attorney General (AGU) and the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGR) in STF cases against the government. The PGR was marked by inaction in the face of constitutional violations, while the AGU not only broadly defended all government actions but also personally defended the president. During the pandemic, as Rubens Glezer points out, the STF played a crucial role in ensuring that state governors could adopt evidence-based measures such as vaccination and social distancing, despite the federal government’s denialist stance, which led to thousands of preventable deaths.
Public Policy Areas
In education, Michelle Badin and Helena Funari analyze the government’s efforts to undermine the financial, administrative, and academic autonomy of universities, which is protected by the Constitution. In environmental policy, Mariana Mota Prado examines how the government contributed to record-breaking fires in the Amazon in 2019 by dismantling the National Center for the Prevention and Combat of Forest Fires and weakening IBAMA through budget and staff cuts. Agencies such as INPE and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), essential for monitoring the Amazon, were also affected. Henrique Castro, Carla Bezerra, and Paulo Henrique Cassimiro show how civil society participation was curtailed through the weakening of participatory councils, suspension of NGO contracts, and rhetorical attacks aimed at delegitimizing organizations seen as opposing the government’s agenda.
The state’s capacity to produce high-quality data—essential for sound public policy—was also threatened by attacks on the independence of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and its research outputs. However, as Ana Lídia Santana notes, IBGE managed to resist these attempts at undue interference. Factors contributing to this resilience include IBGE’s long-standing tradition of statistical integrity, its career civil servants, and the historical practice of appointing presidents from within its ranks, making them less vulnerable to political pressure. Additionally, IBGE’s strong relationships with the press and international statistical agencies helped secure support during these attacks.
Other Studies
The book also explores the economic field, with a study by Diogo Coutinho and Iagê Miola on the profound changes in how economic regulation is conducted and the tools available to regulatory agencies. José Garcez Ghirardi’s chapter examines the rhetorical construction of Bolsonaro’s political persona, arguing that it is built on a radical opposition to basic values of civility. Thiago Amparo investigates the administration’s efforts to allow discrimination in spaces such as churches and businesses, expanding protections for the private domain against public oversight. Finally, Fabio de Sá e Silva explores the connections between the Lava Jato operation, changes in the legal profession, and the Bolsonaro government.
The findings of all these studies are published in the book Rule of Law and Authoritarian Populism, available on the FGV Press website. Follow updates on the next phases of the project on the official project website.