LAW, AUTHORITARIANISM, AND EVERYDAY ECONOMIC LIFE IN VARGAS ERA BRAZIL, 1930-1954

Abstract

This article explores how a military tribunal became an instrument for economic planning in Brazil during the Getúlio Vargas dictatorship. In 1936, Vargas created the National Security Tribunal (NST) to summarily process political trials. Remarkably, this same tribunal was used to enforce economic crimes, namely special laws to defend and develop the “popular economy,” a category of populist inspiration that referred to the economic wellbeing of the people. This article uses case files and other legal sources to show how Vargas used the NST to aggressively display his commitment to social justice and economic development. The article further argues that corporatist ideas were essential to how Brazil’s jurists turned criminal law into a tool for economic governance and, inevitably, for populist politics.

Keywords
Brazil; Economics; Estado Novo; Legal History; Corporatism