A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE THEORY OF CHECKS AND BALANCES IN BRAZILIAN LAW

Abstract

This text aims to promote critical reflections on the theory of checks and balances and its applicability in current Brazilian law, examining its historical foundations, its constitutional structure, and its practical manifestations in institutional dynamics. The methodology employed is the dialectical method, as it allows for the emancipation of critical-reflective thought on the subject, thus enabling a historical analysis and analysis of concrete cases of the Supreme Federal Court, seeking to understand whether the Brazilian model maintains institutional balance between the powers or presents tendencies toward institutional imbalance. Therefore, through a qualitative approach, we can promote, beyond critical-reflective thought, an autonomous and creative interpretation that stimulates emancipatory thinking about the researched dilemma. The results show that contemporary constitutional practice reveals tensions and distortions in the functioning of these mechanisms, especially in the face of the increasing judicialization of politics and the expansion of the Supreme Federal Court's protagonism in the Brazilian political context. Nevertheless, although the mechanisms of reciprocal control remain formally in force, their practical application reveals significant challenges related to judicial activism, the fragility of legislative control, and institutional tensions between the branches of government. Our perspective is to enable, within the legal and academic spheres, a frank debate on the validity and usefulness of the theory of separation of powers in a fully functioning democratic state governed by the rule of law within the Federative Republic of Brazil in the context of 21st-century society.