This text aims at substantiating the theoretical background which has been used to analyse the construction of the educational system in Brazil. The focus is on the possibilities and limits for the construction of a Democratic State based on the rules of law and for strengthening the public sphere. By connecting the construction of an educational system to the cooperation among the political units, which possibilities and limitations are placed on ensuring everyone's right to education? How can equal rights be ensured in a power structure in which the power of the political units is so asymmetrical? The analysis also relates the construction of the educational system and the possibilities and limitations for the construction of the public sphere in our political history.
Educational system; Power structure; Political units; Public sphere; Politics reinvention