Security Paradigms in Brazil: from the Dictatorship to our days

Abstract

In order to better comprehend the current dynamics of the violence and the available alternatives on public policies for its prevention and control, it is essential to retake the exam of the history of public policies on security in Brazil. Considering the multiple possibilities of specialization and differentiation of institutions, as well as their correspondent ways of acting, the exact configuration of public policies chosen in each period and place is strongly associated to the concepts and paradigms that are the bases for the formulation of the security public policies. In this sense, this article develops an historical analysis and proposes the characterization of three paradigms that have influenced the formulation of Security public policies in the period between the military dictatorship in Brazil and the current days: the National Security, the Public Security and the Citizen Security. Initially, the basic characteristics of each paradigm are presented. Then, a comparative analysis of the elements that integrate the core of such paradigms is developed. An analysis of the trajectory that has characterized the transition of paradigms - in which the promulgation of the Federal Constitution in 1988 is adopted as a mark - and of the public policies tendencies that have accompanied the new constitution follows. Finally, a debate on the challenges and limits for the practical application of the new paradigm studied – the Citizen Security one – is developed.