Strategic behavior ofthe Brazilian Supreme Court on issues of government concern: judicial activism or prudence?

This paper aims to investigate the effective performance of the Brazilian Supreme Court in matters of governmental interest in the period from 1985 (which marks the re-democratization) to 2018 (year of the last presidential election), especially in the implementation of human rights and the arbitration of political conflicts, considering the models of judicial behavior, comparative analyzes with other justice systems and empirical researches. To reach its scopes, the research is developed from a critical methodological line, based on political theories and comparative analyzes, beyond purely normative questions, seeking to analyze the problems above all from the political-institutional and behavioral points of view, considering the performance pattern of the Brazilian Constitutional Court. It is concluded that the Brazilian Supreme Court, in matters of governmental interest, usually acts with caution, that is, being very cautious. In addition, the Court has a timid performance in protecting fundamental rights, at least in quantitative terms. In the context of the arbitration of political conflicts, Brazilian Supreme Court commonly decides by allocating power to the organ or stronger entity, unless such a measure is of manifest unconstitutionality.