Recessão Democrática À Brasileira: a Lei de Acesso à Informação (LAI) entre 2019 e 2022

Abstract

Based on the notion of democratic recession, this text institutes a discussion about the Access to Information Law (AIL) in Brazil between 2019 and 2022. The exploratory, qualitative and reflective nature of this text activates the understanding that the archival record instrumentalizes operational procedures, reconstituting the organic links of its context of emergence, making it viable as evidence of institutional activities. In this way, accountability is mobilized as essential to democracy, and information management can guide both transparency and accountability for illicit conduct. The dynamics of this corruption articulated: (a) the increase in denials of access to information and evasive responses; (b) the excessive use of the Brazilian General Data Protection Law to intensify “secrecy”; (c) the expansion of public agents who can attribute confidentiality to information without a previous consultation; (d) the difficulty of condemning illegal conduct; (e) the political co-optation of supervisory bodies, and; (f) the challenge of defining “public interest” to strengthen active transparency. These points demonstrate the need for permanent surveillance of the mechanisms for the right of access to information.