Democracy in Progress in Contemporary Brazil: Corruption, Organized Crime, Violence and New Paths to the Rule of Law

Abstract

Although the transition to democracy began in the middle of 1980's, Brazilian society has not yet experienced a peaceful social life. New forms of violence have emerged in in the last two decades including the increase of violent crimes, gross human rights violations, organized crime and conflicts within social and subjective relationships. The paper discusses the policies of the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administrations (1995-2002) regarding human rights and public security. It examines the social and political constraints in which government initiatives are based and the successes as well as the failures on the efficiency of these public policies.

Participation as a Safety Valve: Police Reform Through Participatory Security in Latin America

“…While the analysis presented here is a story about institutional origins, we must ask how the CONSEGs, which continue to operate in most of the state to this day, interact with the increasing complexity of security challenges in São Paulo (Adorno 2013), including a powerful criminal organization that contests the state's monopoly on violence (Willis 2015). Moreover, we must also ask about the implications of participatory security for citizenship in a context in which race, class, and geography continue to determine relationships to the state and access to protection (Alves 2013), such that marginalized populations in violent communities may seek to create their own participatory security spaces, often with glaring contradictions (Feltran 2010).…”

Trends and Patterns of Police-Related Deaths in Brazil

“…Studies on juvenile delinquency clearly indicate that organized crime, especially drug trafficking, is not restricted to Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Since the circulation of money nourishes drug trafficking, smuggling, and weapons (Adorno 2013), it becomes fuel for more violence not only in large cities but also in smaller municipalities dominated by organized crime, where organized crime and gun violence are interrelated (Gagliardi 2012). Moreover, in urban areas, high percentages of young people living in slum areas perceive the police as corrupt.…”

The Brazilian Constitution of 1988: a comparative appraisal

“…The most dramatic consequence of this violence is that Latin American people have lived under a "State of Terror", spanning from its local forms of precarious gangs in neighborhoods, favelas, and barrios, to cities under the complete control of criminal organizations, such as the Primeiro Commando de la Capital in Sao Paulo. 7 As a consequence of the three former dimensions that substantiate the abysmal distance between the written entitlements and the real every day deprivation of rights, the fourth must important feature is the lack of a Rule of Law. The task of creating a fair and lawful government was not the only challenge for the elite and the masses.…”