INDIGENOUS SELF-GOVERNMENT: A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN BRAZIL AND BOLIVIA

Abstract

This article aims to investigate if the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 guarantees the prerogative of self-government to Indigenous communities, according to the canons of the new Latin American constitutionalism present in the Constitution of Bolivia. A deductive and comparative study is carried out with documental and bibliographical analysis, using descriptive statistics to perform comparative analyses. The results show that, when comparing the constitutional models of Brazil and Bolivia, it is possible to notice that in the Brazilian Constitution, the Western Eurocentric paradigm affirms constitutional sovereignty and a monistic (hegemonic) system of Law. By contrast, the Bolivian archetype proposes to implement the self-government and self-determination of the Indigenous communities. The Brazilian paradigm promotes an anti-Indigenous policy, in favor of a capitalist economic model, demanding alternative ways of interpreting the Constitution to identify instruments that ensure the self-determination and autonomy of the native peoples in Brazil.