Dossier 90 — 90 Years of the Estado Novo and 60 Years of the 1967 Constitution: authoritarian constitutionalism, coups d’état, and democracy in Brazil
The journal Projeto História invites researchers to submit articles for this thematic dossier, devoted to reflection on two important milestones in Brazilian political history: the ninetieth anniversary of the Estado Novo (1937–1945) and the sixtieth anniversary of the 1967 Constitution, enacted under the tutelage of the Military Dictatorship (1964–1985). On November 10, 1937, Getúlio Vargas established the Estado Novo through a coup d’état, granting a new Constitution, dissolving the National Congress, and establishing a regime characterized by the centralization of power, censorship, and political repression. Three decades later, on January 24, 1967, the Constitution drafted in the context of the regime installed after the 1964 civil-military coup came into force, providing legal and institutional support for a dictatorship that would last twenty-one years, marked by political repression, the systematic practice of torture, murders, enforced disappearances, and persecution of a political nature. Although distinct in their dynamics, temporalities, and degrees of repressive violence, both regimes resorted to constitutional law as a mechanism for legitimizing authoritarian power. A comparative analysis of these experiences makes it possible to bring to light continuities, ruptures, and reconfigurations of authoritarianism in Brazilian political history, offering analytical tools for understanding the contemporary challenges to democracy. By proposing this dossier, the journal Projeto História reaffirms its commitment to critical academic work aimed at understanding Brazil’s authoritarian past and reflecting on the challenges of democracy in the present.
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