April 3, 4, and 5, 2018
Law School — University of Lisbon
The Lisbon Legal Forum reaches its sixth edition in 2018. Organized by the Brazilian Institute of Public Law (IDP), the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon (FDUL) and the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV), its motto this year is “Social State Reform in the Context of Globalization”.
The event takes place annually at the University of Lisbon, in Portugal, with the purpose of discussing major issues of law in the contemporary State, based on the dialogue between the Portuguese and Brazilian legal systems. This edition will address issues related to globalization. Different visions, challenges, and models present on both sides of the Atlantic will be discussed by political, legal and academic authorities. Topics such as: globalization and the welfare state, social security, education system, public health system, technological changes, new international relations and their economic and social impacts, among others, will be addressed.
The seminar is the result of a partnership signed between FGV, the Brazilian Institute of Public Law (IDP) and the Institute of Legal and Political Sciences of the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon (ICJP/FDUL). The cooperation and dialogue between the three institutions are aimed at developing activities in their domain areas, aimed at technical advice applied to the improvement of public and private institutions in Brazil and abroad. Thus, they seek:
1. The joint promotion of activities aimed at improving organizational and management models, especially with regard to the governance of public and private institutions, aimed at administrative and logistical simplification;
2. Encouraging the exchange of knowledge, the search for innovation and the production of new methodologies in their projects;
3. The organization and implementation of dissemination programs, as well as the discussion on topics of common interest, methodologies, and concepts developed within the three institutions;
4. Working together in diagnostic and technical advisory activities. Cooperation, therefore, seeks to stimulate the exchange of ideas and experiences, as well as to promote academic debates capable of influencing the proposal of public policies and leading to the development of joint projects, involving a variety of initiatives aimed at public and private institutions.
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The VI Lisbon Legal Forum will be held on April 3, 4 and 5 at the University of Lisbon, in Portugal, and will have as its theme “Social State Reform in the Context of Globalization”.
The last edition, held in 2017, focused on “Constitution and Governance”. Political, economic, and social issues questioned the capacity of States to provide quality of life and well-being to their citizens. This year, the seminar aims to promote this debate through a new perspective: globalization. The panels analyze the same challenges posed by political crises, this time observed from this perspective. Thus, the purpose of the seminar is to present solutions to adversities brought about by global integration.
Globalization and the sociopolitical changes affecting the world highlight the role of the State in different fields, such as social security, regional security, migration, and the economy. These issues will be specifically discussed in the panels “The Sustainability of Social Security”, “Sustainability of the Public Health System”, “Basic Income: Between the Existential Minimum and Universalization”, “Free University Education” and “The Impact of Globalization on National Social Rights”.
Issues related to economic issues will be addressed in the following panels: “Social State and Gross Domestic Product — the Brazilian Case”, “Robotization, Artificial Intelligence, Technological Changes and Their Economic-Social Impacts” and “The World Trade Organization and the New International Relations”. The challenge is to find an adequate response to globalization and transform its potential benefits into real gains, in order to cope with economic changes and minimize social costs.
The seminar, once again, will be attended by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Souza, who will close the event.
The interaction between the welfare state and globalization is highly complex. Understanding the implications of the process of economic multinationalization on the well-being of a society is an extremely relevant topic. Brazil and Portugal experience similar reactions with regard to the impacts of globalization on the welfare state. At all times, both States are experiencing socio-political transformations brought about by the wave of globalization affecting the world. These changes reaffirm the role of the State in different fields, such as social security, economy, health, education, migration, etc.
In this way, Brazil shares with Portugal the challenges inherent to multinationalization, and the ideas of reform in the financing of the social welfare state are raised, in contrast to the existential minimum, reduction in the capacity of governments to impose taxes, the social cost of expanding production, increased information sharing, the right to education, the preservation of a unified health system, all this in parallel with the undeniable benefits brought by globalization, such as economic growth, lower prices for imported goods, higher competitive pressures in domestic production, frenetic dissemination of knowledge, increased understanding of other cultures, promotion of acceptance of diversity, etc.
In this context, there are fundamentally three doctrinal currents regarding the relationship between the phenomenon of globalization and the welfare state. In the first, it is argued that globalization is the cause of the chronic crisis of the welfare state. This view predicts that, as national economies open up to the international market, governments are required to adapt to the imperatives of global competition, which means cutting welfare programs.
The second interpretation argues that globalization would not be the cause of the crisis of the welfare state, but affirms that globalization per se is, in this context, an insignificant or marginal influence. The third current argues that globalization, far from causing the problems of the welfare state, is a consequence of them, as well as part of their solution. This theory suggests that globalization eventually expands the welfare state.
Brazil faces the enormous challenge of reducing its social inequalities and, at the same time, growing in the globalized world. The VI Luso-Brazilian Law Seminar aims to discuss problems and propose solutions for this topic.
