A promulgação do Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente

disputas, ideologias e consensos nas Casas Legislativas

Abstract

This article examines the ideological movement and the balance of power in the National Congress and the broader national political landscape that influenced the approval of Law No. 8,069/1990—the Child and Adolescent Statute. The movement began with the inclusion of Articles 227 and 228 in the 1988 Federal Constitution but gained momentum in the wake of a neoliberal push to enact legislation that would encourage the role of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) at the expense of government and state policies. The context contributed to the swift approval of the law due to a powerful lobbying effort by new social movements, backed by the media and international organizations such as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). In this article, we also examine the movement dedicated to passing the Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional (LDB – National Education Guidelines and Framework Law), which faced strong resistance in advancing its agenda. Notably, the article demonstrates that senators acted in diametrically opposite ways regarding the two laws. While they were ostensibly progressive in supporting the Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente (ECA – Child and Adolescent Statute), they took an explicitly conservative stance on the LDB. The analysis concludes that this difference in approach was tied to the nature of each law: the ECA, as a neoliberal law, opened the door for NGO involvement at the expense of the state, while the LDB - crafted by progressive social movements - defended rights that were non-negotiable in the face of neoliberal agendas.