A suprema dependência: Judicialização das políticas de saúde durante a pandemia de covid-19

Abstract

This thesis aims to examine the judicialization of health policy during the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil through the lens of the Marxist Theory of Dependency (TMD) and Pachukanis’s Marxist critique of law. The study focuses on the period between Ordinance No. 188 of February 3, 2020, which declared a Public Health Emergency of National Importance (ESPIN) due to Covid-19, and Ordinance No. 913 of April 22, 2022, which officially ended the emergency. The research combines quantitative and qualitative approaches. It begins with a jurimetric analysis of decisions issued by the Federal Supreme Court (STF), encompassing 13,972 pandemic-related decisions within the defined timeframe, including 590 cases in abstract judicial review. It then conducts a thematic analysis of 37 significant decisions in abstract review, organized into five central themes: pandemic response measures, labor rights, protection of vulnerable populations, data transparency, and Covid-19 vaccination. The findings indicate that the STF operated as a state apparatus in sustaining Brazil’s structural dependency, shaping in decisive ways the implementation of health policies throughout the pandemic.