Democratic identity and constitutionalism:

the construction of democracy in Brazil under the perspective of the evolution of limitations to constitutional amendments in brazilian Constitutions

Abstract

This article aims to examine the relationship between the evolution of constitutionalism in Brazil, with the definition and expansion of the limits imposed on constitutional amendments in national constitutions, and the construction of Brazilian democratic identity. To this end, the analytical method is adopted, through critical research on doctrinal, legislative and judicial decisions. The conclusion is that there is a direct relationship between the construction of Brazilian democratic identity and the evolution of constitutionalism in Brazil, from the perspective of the limits imposed on constitutional amendments, especially when it is observed that non-democratic Brazilian Constitutions do not prescribe any circumstantial or material limits to the exercise of the power to reform the constitutional text, while democratic Constitutions do so, setting and expanding such limits, which are expanded in the Citizen Constitution, to praise the ideal of democracy.