Research lines

Constitutional Transformations and Constitutional Thought

Within the research area of Constitutional Transformations and Constitutional Thought, reflecting on the Constitution and its current meaning poses a significant challenge not only for constitutional theory in general but for the various legal fields in particular.

The constitutional model that characterized 18th-century constitutionalism is not the same as contemporary constitutional structures, even though many of its features are continuously reaffirmed. Discussions about the limits and possibilities of the model rooted in the Bourgeois Revolutions are present at various levels of constitutional theory.

The goal is to explore theoretical and methodological influences that can broaden the understanding of the challenges to the consolidation of the Democratic Rule of Law (or Democratic State of Law).

The alignment of this research area with the broader field of study is evident from the fact that the issues described above form the core of State Theory and Constitutional Law, and they unfold along the following axes:

1. The configuration of fundamental rights from an interdisciplinary theoretical perspective, which questions their concrete relationship with various constitutional models and examines problems related to legal micro-systems of constitutional origin, normative integration, and the role of constitutional jurisdiction. Research on fundamental rights and constitutional jurisdiction developed in the Program is connected to the investigation of legal instruments that guarantee constitutional values, traditional and contemporary techniques of legal interpretation, and debates surrounding the peculiarities of constitutional interpretation.

2. Electoral processes, their history, and the problematic nature of political representation and participation of a constitutional nature have been a subject of concern and debate in the Program. Parallel to and connected with the investigation of these issues, the PPGD at PUC-Rio studies the legislative process and the levels of rationality in evaluating the quality of laws: linguistic, formal-legal, pragmatic, teleological, and ethical rationality.

3. The production of a constitutional historiography that incorporates all political subjects and constituent processes that influence constitutional texts and their application. This historiography relates to, in certain cases, or develops from a radical perspective of the humanities, which, in its distinct traditions, has an impact on the understanding and monitoring of constitutional norms and the processes of political participation that stem from them. It also involves the investigation of radical currents of political and constitutional thought that were not realized in the past but have a strong critical content in relation to constitutionalism and present alternatives for institutional organization and the creation of rights.

4. Constitutional transformations arising from the environmental and climate crisis in Brazilian Law, the roles of the State and civil society in guaranteeing the fundamental right to an ecologically balanced environment, and the pursuit of environmental justice have marked some of the research conducted at the PPGD at PUC-Rio. These topics form an important axis of investigation and have significant impact, as environmental issues are expected to become increasingly relevant in all fields of knowledge in the coming decades.

5. An interdisciplinary approach to social control mechanisms, criminal policies, criminalization processes, and their effects on strengthening Democracy, the Constitutional State, and the exercise of citizenship. This approach also involves reflecting on new configurations of biopower, the exercise of sovereign power through necropolitics, and the rise of new fascisms that use new information and control technologies to undermine the foundations of constitutional institutions and dismantle acquired rights.

Permanent Faculty: Adrian Sgarbi (adriansgarbi@gmail.com) Adriano Pilatti (adrianop@puc-rio.br) Danielle de Andrade Moreira (daniamoreira@puc-rio.br) Fabio Carvalho Leite (fabiojur@puc-rio.br) Florian Fabian Hoffmann (florianhoffmannn@gmail.com) Francisco de Guimaraens (chicodeguima@puc-rio.br) Gisele Cittadino (gisele@puc-rio.br) João Ricardo Wanderley Dornelles (jrwd@puc-rio.br) Renato Lessa (rlessa@puc-rio.br) Maurício de Albuquerque Rocha (cawaipe@gmail.com) Thula Pires (thula@puc-rio.br)

Affiliated Faculty: Virginia Totti (vtottig@gmail.com)

Legal Theory, Ethics, and the Construction of Subjectivity

The research area of Legal Theory, Ethics, and the Construction of Subjectivity studies the relationships between law and the state, exploring various models of legal thought—both explicitly and through an analysis of what these models offer to different legal disciplines. It prioritizes examining the theoretical aspects of our legal system in connection with foreign institutions and references.

Additionally, this area develops research that addresses the paradigm of modernity through a critical perspective on individualism. It draws on diverse theoretical traditions and disciplinary approaches (philosophy, sociology, anthropology, psychoanalysis), which makes it possible to move beyond the idea of the individual as a natural given and to instead conceive of subjectivity as a historical construct.

This approach has created space for a multifaceted reflection that addresses questions related to the crisis of the modern paradigm and the characteristics of the emergent model (nature/culture, subject/object, body/psyche, reason/passion), without falling into determinism or relativism when considering ethical issues.

This research area aims to critique these assumptions while building a framework for contemporary reflection on modernity and its consequences for legal and political theories. Its adherence to the PPGD's area of concentration is manifested by the perception that analyzing the complexity of the state phenomenon must be done from the perspective of how constitutions institutionalize the relationships among ethics, law, and politics, and how the processes of constructing subjectivities can affect the formation and interpretation of constitutional norms.

In this sense, an interdisciplinary dive into issues related to legal theory, ethics, and the construction of historical and political subjects provides new opportunities for reflection on the state's functioning, organization, and structure in light of societal transformations.

The reflections and analyses unfold along the following axes:

1. The description and critique of distinct perspectives on the foundation and concept of law, by examining legal methodologies and models of legal rationality. This aims to enable an understanding of the normative phenomenon in both its dogmatic approaches (law as a norm) and its pragmatic expressions (law as a decision).

2. The analysis of legal constructs, normative demands based on moral assertions with claims of universality, and the problems of knowledge that these formulations raise in the current legal debate.

3. The problematization of the assumptions of modern political theory (aggressiveness, rationalism, etc.) in light of knowledge produced by depth psychology in its various forms and by philosophical currents that have developed critical perspectives on the notion of the modern subject. These approaches challenge the dualisms that shaped the hegemonic modern way of thinking (nature vs. culture; body vs. soul; reason vs. emotions; freedom vs. necessity, etc.) and have constructed useful concepts for a new way of understanding contemporary issues relevant to the formation of subjectivity.

4. The re-reading of traditional private law institutes—and the mitigation of the public/private law dichotomy itself—motivated by this new paradigm of the subject, in which the mere protection of a private autonomy of an individualistic and patrimonial nature gives way to the integral protection of human dignity through the direct application of constitutional principles to private relationships, within the methodological perspective of the so-called constitutionalization of civil law.

5. The debate about changes in digital and human rights, emphasizing the problems faced in the digital world and the importance of protecting privacy, personal data, and the right to freedom of expression online. Issues of gender, race, and social class in the formation of digital identities are discussed through an examination of the constitutional principles that govern the digital environment and the state’s role in regulating and protecting these rights. Public policies and digital governance models are also examined. The interdisciplinary approach allows for a critical analysis of the interactions among law, technology, society, and politics, encouraging a discussion about the recognition of digital rights and their consequences in the social, political, and legal spheres.

Permanent Faculty Members: Adrian Sgarbi (adriansgarbi@gmail.com) Adriana Vidal de Oliveira (adrianavidal@puc-rio.br) Bethânia de Albuquerque Assy (bethania.assy@gmail.com) Caitlin Sampaio Mulholland (caitlinsm@puc-rio.br) Francisco de Guimaraens (chicodeguima@puc-rio.br) Márcia Nina Bernardes (marcianb@puc-rio.br) Maurício de Albuquerque Rocha (cawaipe@gmail.com) Noel Struchiner (struchiner@gmail.com) Renato Lessa (rlessa@puc-rio.br)