Francisco Campos and constitutional cynicism

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the reception, in legal circles, of the ideas proposed by Francisco Campos to legitimize the authoritarian government of Getúlio Vargas. For the analysis of Campos's proposals, cynicism was used as an analytical category capable of revealing the strategic use of law for political purposes. It is argued that, at first, the jurist used discursive strategies based on a mythical discourse revealing a cynical way of conceiving the legitimation of power. It is argued that its proposals were not successful among jurists because of the acceptance of a legitimized discourse based not on the force of political myth but on scientific and sociological foundations of a historical and sociological.