Democracy, rights and fiscal policy: challenges for Brazilian democratic reconstruction under the new fiscal framework

A vast and eclectic contemporary political science literature identifies a mutual implication between the processes of de-democratization observed since the 2010s and the primacy of austerity fiscal policies, especially in the Global South. Based on this premise, we address the risks that the so-called Sustainable Fiscal Regime, implemented through LC200/2023, presents for the democratic and constitutional reconstruction of Brazil. A theoretical justification of the centrality of the fiscal realm in modern democracies is followed by a specific discussion of the economic and political problems associated with austere public finances. On these bases, interpretations and simulations of scenarios are produced that indicate the incompatibility between the fiscal rule approved in Brazil in 2023 and the satisfactory implementation of public policies that materialize electoral preferences and fundamental rights.