POLITICAL TRANSITION IN BRAZIL: PERSPECTIVES FOR DEMOCRACY

Abstract

Criticizing the simplistic approach which defines the political transition in Brazil as "transition from above”, the author proposes an analysis which explains the liberalization process through the confluence of two dynamics: that of negotiation and pact conduted by the elites and another of pressures and demands emanating from society.
The central question which emerges in the present context is how to effectively establish in the country a democratic order. The analysis indicates, on the one hand, a return of the historical pattern marked by a strong presence of the State and the importance of the executive in Brazilian politics and, on the other, the reflux of representative institutions in general, aggravated after the 1985 elections.
The conclusion shows that the main challenge to democratic consolidation now lies in the possibility that representative institutions become effective channels of articulation and generalization of corporative-sectorial interests.