Acknowledgements

Isigned the publishing agreement for this book at the ICON-S conference in Chile in July 2019. There would be no better place for it. Every year, this is the place where constitutionalism expresses itself in many different ways, and where I can meet several of my best friends in the field.

I left Chile already focusing on this book, which I would begin writing, a month later, during my CAPES/Alexander von Humboldt fellowship at the Max-Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg, Germany. Wonderful months were spent having fruitful conversa­tions with scholars from all over the world, and particularly those participating in the research project Ius Constitutionale Commune en America Latina, where we discussed several subjects on Latin American constitutionalism. My book would not exist without those days in Heidelberg, and special thanks are due to Armin von Bogdandy, Mariela Morales Antoniazzi, Pedro Villareal, Juan Herrera, Roberto Miccu, David Geng, Johannes Mikuteit, Franz Ebert and Sabrina Ragone. Rafaela Giordano, a Brazilian librarian at MPIL (what luck!) and all the MPIL staff helped me immensely with research material and were always available, making that research period a great experience.

My return to Brazil would bring me back to the reality I was investigating in my book, and the radicality of what was happening made everything look so surreal that my writing was just not quick enough to keep pace with the downturn that the country was enduring, then aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Writing about the rule of law in Brazil in this context was extremely frenetic: every day there was a new development that meant rewriting large parts of this book, all the while running the risk of this text being overtaken by history.

Taking into account such a degree of uncertainties and imponderable variables, the years I have been writing posts and columns for the International Journal of Constitutional Law Blog (I-CONnect) on several developments in Brazil and Latin America helped me understand how to cope with the radicality of time in constitutional law. Those posts and columns have been received with such generosity by David Landau and Richard Albert, two leading scholars who became such great friends, that I can frankly say that I would not be able to write such a challenging book without learning from their expertise and friend­ship. Rosalind Dixon, Tom G Daly, Yaniv Roznai, Tom Ginsburg, Oran Doyle, Sebastian Eickenjager, Marianne Ulriksen, Christian Prener, Ane Karoline Bak Foged, Mohamed Arafa, Carlos Bernal, Vicente Benitez, Gonzalo Ramirez Cleve, and Chiara Graziani have, in one way or another, helped me brainstorm some fundamental subjects of this book, from comments on the first drafts to debates over impeachment, constitutional moments, constitutional courts, threats to liberal democracy and a number of other interesting topics that enrich many discussions in this book.

I have been able to rely on several Brazilian friends and brilliant scholars, who provided me with insights that relieved some of the burden of dealing with the insecure future of our country. Special thanks go to Daniel Bogea, Cristiano Paixao, Argemiro Martins, Marcelo Neves, Pablo Holmes, Roberto Bueno, Debora Diniz, Gabriela Rondon, Estefania Barbosa, Marcelo Cattoni, Emilio Peluso Meyer, Conrado Hubner Mendes, Thomas Bustamante, Jane Reis, Alexandre Araujo Costa, Fernando Acunha, Virgilio Afonso da Silva, Miguel Godoy, Rafael Mafei, Diego Werneck Arguelhes, Gisele Cittadino, Thomaz Pereira, Alexandre Veronese, Vera Karam de Chueiri, Claudio Ladeira, Aline Osorio, Luis Roberto Barroso and Miroslav Milovic (in memoriam).

�The Rule of Law in Context’ Hart series editors, Gabrielle Appleby and Lorne Neudorf, were fantastic in helping me plan and organise the main topics of this book. Their enthusiasm and insights regarding the best strategy to provide the reader with a rich but accessible discussion of such a complex subject guided me throughout my writing.

Rosemarie Mearns and Kate Whetter were the perfect team at Hart during the development of this book. Their careful and gentle support and communica­tion are all an author could wish for. They certainly know how this can make a difference! I would also like to thank Claire Banyard and Linda Staniford for their great help during the editing process.

During the writing of this book, I was a fellow of CAPES/Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), and the Research Support Foundation of the Federal District (FAP-DF). I am also very indebted to the entire staff of the University of Brasilia, my alma mater and where I have the pleasure to work with such wonderful friends and colleagues in this fascinating world of teaching, learning and researching.

Most of this book was written during the COVID-19 pandemic. Brazil was dealing with its worst crisis ever, and in particular I lost a dear friend and colleague, the great philosopher Miroslav Milovic, to the disease. Yet, during the pandemic, there was also life. My daughter Nina was born while I was writing this book. The joy of having Nina and Pedro (my four-year old son) growing up together is just magical.

The painting on the cover of this book is part of my memories. It is on the wall of my parents’ house, just in front of the dinner table. I grew up looking at it and it has always brought me such a close connection with the simple life of Brazilians. It is titled �Vila’, painted by my mom Angela Zaiden, who has always given me such an inspiration for the beautiful things of life.

This book is dedicated to my kids. I’ll have a bit more time to enjoy life and play with them now that it is published!