From Guinea-Bissau to Brazil: Impacts of political instability on maintaining constitutional principles for education

Abstract

The article aims to bring a comparative reflection on the impacts of political instability (with the non-democratic transition of governments) on maintaining the constitutional principles for the right to education in Guinea Bissau and Brazil. From the documentary analysis on education and semi-structured interviews with two students, the same consequence is verified: impacts on public investments to social sectors. In Guinea-Bissau, the 2012 coup was marked by high international aid to governance and security over education, challenging the Basic Law of the Education System and Education Sector Plan. In Brazil, after Rousseff’s impeachment in 2016, Constitutional Amendment 95 was approved, which freezes public spending on education in 20 years, rendering the National Education Plan unfeasible.