Limitação do poder reformador e frequência da reforma: análise comparativa das alterações constitucionais nas democracias contemporâneas

Abstract

This work aims to verify the existence or not of correlation between constitutional rigidity and the frequency of constitutional reforms. To achieve this objective, an analysis of qualitative data was proposed, with the temporal threshold in the year of 2019. The concrete aspect, in this case the practical effectiveness and alterability of constitutions, was separated from the abstract aspect, of deontology and normative restrictions on constitutional reform. Fifty constitutions were selected based on objective criteria of: being in force, being texts of national scope, belonging to democratic nations with a population superior to 1.5 million inhabitants. After that, a way of measuring the frequency of constitutional amendments in these legal systems was defined, resulting in the creation of a reformability coefficient. Next, the limitations on constitutional reform were analyzed and divided into four classes: initiative, procedure, approval or confirmation, and a special type. Based on this analysis, a rigidity coefficient was created. The reformability and the degree of the impact that each form of limitation in the amendment procedure had on it were then compared, followed by visual and mathematical analysis of the correlation between both coefficients. It was concluded, based on statistical practice parameters, that there was no sufficient causality, and that just a weak correlation between the restrictions imposed on the reform power and the frequency with which it reforms constitutions, was present.