Public Sphere and the Anti-racism Legal Protections in Brasil

Abstract

This paper starts from the analytical theoretical presupposition that a better understanding of the issue of the effectiveness of rule of law in constitutional democracies depends on the analysis and reconstruction of the internal connections between rule of law, the dynamics of the public sphere, and democracy itself. The thematization and public controversies over problems that already are or should already be regulated by the existing laws can trigger judicial processes that envisage the more concrete configuration of the prevailing system of rights. Taking recourse to this analytical theoretical premise implies going beyond mere diagnosis of non-rule of law in Latin American countries in general and in Brazil in particular. Our hypothesis –grounded initially on the critical theory of society formulated by Jürgen Habermas, particularly on his concept of public sphere – asked us to see what is really happening in the relationship between civil society and state, and then try to see if the growth of discussion about racial problems in the public sphere, as well as the increase of organization of the black movement, produced in the last years some changes in the legal institutions.