Globalization and democratization in Brazil: an interpretation of Rawls's political liberalism

Abstract

This paper reflects the findings of an ongoing research on the normative thrust of globalization within the Brazilian transition to democracy in light of a Rawlsian-inspired theory of global justice. By resorting to what I term “the Brazilian reception of Rawls’s political liberalism,” –in particular, to his contribution to a theory of global justice–, I argue for an idea of public reason that subscribes both to an autonomous, deliberative ethos for local action (Brazilian undergoing democratization) and to a universalizable, egalitarian conception of justice and liberty (a Rawlsian-inspired recasting of social-democracy). It is my contention here that the main challenge of global justice consists in making the normative dimension of globalization work for the consolidation of democracy in the social, political, and economic institutions of so-called emergent societies, such as Brazil. By resorting to a theory of global justice that avoids the pitfalls of both neoliberalism and state socialism, an attempt is made at recasting Rawls’s idea of public autonomy and deliberative democracy within a society whose democratic institutions are still in the making. I am drawing on Rawls’s trilogy (A Theory of Justice, Political Liberalism, and The Law of Peoples) to account for the defense of social-democracy in Brazil and its insertion in the globalizing process without subscribing to a neoliberal agenda or succumbing to the universalist-communitarian dilemma. Key words: Democracy; globalization; egalitarianism; justice; liberalism; public reason.