The militarization of public security: An obstacle for brazilian democracy

Abstract

Maintaining members of the military and increasing their prerogatives within the ambit of the public security issues are criteria that limit civil autonomy in areas of management, planning and strategic actions in security. This authoritarian legacy in the Federal Constitution and within some institutions of coercive power, particularly the Ministry of Defense and the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Agência Brasileira de Inteligência - ABIN), has led to the non-consolidation of democracy in Brazil, since civilian control therein remains quite fragile. In this regard, the goal of this paper is to demonstrate that the process of militarization of public security has limited Brazilian democracy. Even after the country's re-democratization through sub-minimal patterns, public security continues, in a very accentuated way, to remain in the hands of members of the military. This creates a lack of civil controls, an attribute that would be necessary for the consolidation of democracy, as well as serious limitations in the defense of citizens' rights. Observing such details, I observe that the current framework of Brazilian public security offers no more than a semi-democracy.