A Comparative Study About Institutional Tensions and the Peculiarity of the

Brazilian ones
In a contemporary context of the separation of powers, considering that the Powers
established by the Constitution share the same political space, competitions about
authorities and constitutional competences are very common among the institutions of
the State. In cases in which these competitions reach a higher stage when an
institution insists on completely encroaching a constitutional competence of another
institution , there is what is known as institutional tensions.
The present paper approaches the character of institutional tensions in Brazil, in
comparison to the ones that occur in the United States. For such analysis, we use the
"constitutional showdown" concept brought forward by Adrian Vermeule and Eric
Posner in The Executive Unbound: After the Madisonian Republic - as cornerstone to
better comprehend lato sensu and stricto sensu institutional tensions. The object of this
paper concentrates on two paradigmatic cases: In Brazil, the Presidents Fernando
Collor impeachment case, while in the United States, the 2013 Government Shutdown
and the previous events which led to this case. Therefore, the objects analysis will be
approached with the new North American institutional theory. In this context this
paper sustains that, usually, institutional tensions in Brazil have a mere political
character, and it is not strictly institutional, which occurs more often in the United
States, as shown by the authors above-mentioned. To prove this hypothesis, three
selected criteria will be tested in each case: (i) the competition concerning constitutional
competences, (ii) the capacity of creating precedents and (iii) its resolution within the
institutional scenario. The general objective is to test if there is any peculiarity in
Brazilian institutional tensions - specifically in their character - which seems at a first
stage, not strictly institutional but merely political instead. Therefore, the specific
objective is to investigate the reason for such peculiarity to occur. The methodology
follows the hypothetical-deductive criterion and comprises the models of analytical
research; and also empirical, as it sustains itself in the proof of ideal selected criteria
within the case-study. The spatial analysis of the paper occurs within the Three
Branches of Government, in both cases. The timeframe in question starts in the
redemocratization period in Brazil, after the promulgation of its Federal Constitution in
1988.