ABSTRACT
Brazil is a federation in the classic sense of the term. It has a constitution that expressly stipulates the federative structure of the system of government, with 26 member states, such as Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Bahia, Amazonas and Pernambuco, in addition to the Federal District. Brazilian society was never and remains not entirely homogeneous, since it was originally composed of Portuguese colonizers, native peoples and those who arrived from Africa in slave ships. In the year 1822, Brazil officially ceased to be a colony of Portugal through a declaration of independence which established the country as a unitary and imperial (monarchical) state. The establishment of the state constitutions after the federal constitution is consistent with the origin of the Brazilian federation generally: as a ‘holding-together’ rather than a ‘coming-together’ federation. The foreordination norms found in the federal constitution regulate aspects of the states’ political organization.
