Da Constituinte ao Plebiscito: discussões e representações sobre formas e sistemas de governo nas revistas Manchete e Veja (1987-1993)

Abstract

The present work seeks to analyze the consequences of the debate on forms and systems of government, mobilized since 1987, with the installation of the National Constituent Assembly, and concluded in 1993, when a plebiscite focused on the deliberation of the themes was carried out. The appreciation of the political landscape will take place, considering the coverage exercised on the subjects by the magazines Manchete (1952-2000) and Veja (1968-present), two important publications of the Brazilian press, with great circulation and popularity in the context. Manchete, by Bloch Editores, was conceived as an illustrated weekly, directed to entertainment. Over time, the magazine acquired other characteristics, starting to cover national and international political events. On the other hand, Veja, from Editora Abril, since its beginnings, has paid attention to topics developed within the scope of politics, expanding its guidelines as it consolidated itself in the communication market. The systems of government, that is, parliamentarism and presidentialism, were the targets of disputes between federal deputies and senators that are part of the Constituent Assembly, which presented different understandings about administrative concepts. As such, discussions between those who suggested the division of powers of command between a president and a premier and others who preferred to keep big decisions in the hands of a single leader, have intensified. At the same time, federal deputy Antônio Henrique Bittencourt Cunha Bueno (affiliated to the PDS, elected by São Paulo), together with movements based on society, aimed to reestablish the monarchy as a form of government in Brazil, offering criticisms of the republic, installed in 1889 to replace the old political statute monarchical, developed after national emancipation. An electoral expedient of the nature of the Plebiscite on the Form and the System of Government was not something very conventional in the country. The debates emerging from this scenario involved the interest of groups directly concerned with the change or maintenance of the current model, configuring itself as an atypical conflict and distant from the voter's knowledge, summoned to decide at the polls on the dispute on April 21, 1993.