Estado Federal no Brasil: o federalismo na Constituinte de 1987/1988 e a descentralização pela assimetria

Abstract

The thesis aims to verify if the asymmetrical configuration of the Brazilian federal state may be more adequate in accordance with the sense of federalism of the National Constituent Assembly of 1987/1988. To do so, it is organized in two parts. The first will try to seek this meaning that influenced the provision of the Constitution de 1988 and the current scenario of the Brazilian federal state, where positions are presented on its causes of centralization being present in the constitutional text. The centralization of the Brazilian federal state is evident with the fiscal reforms of the 1990s. The second part seeks to demonstrate, based on the evidence from the first, that the asymmetric federal state in Brazil can be a means of decentralization. Here, the concepts of federalism and federation are differentiated, since it is fundamental for understanding the federative asymmetry in each one of its scopes. The asymmetry is then verified on the basis of preconditions, in the scope of federalism, and in results, in the federal state. At this point, the asymmetry of fact and the asymmetry of law between the results are distinguished. It is verified that the most important factor to ascertain the asymmetry in a federation is the asymmetry of law, in which the federal States follow or not a standard of equality between the federative units, either in the representation before the central power, or in the division of competencies between the federative units.