Book contents
- Health As a Human Right
- Cambridge Studies in Law and Society
- Health As a Human Right
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Map
- Tables
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- Part I The Politics of the Right to Health
- Part II The Judicialisation of the Right to Health
- 5 The Judicialisation of Health in Numbers
- 6 How the Haves Come Out Ahead in Health Litigation
- 7 Islands of Rights Revolutions?
- 8 Unequal Justice
- Part III What Role for Courts?
- Bibliography
- Index
- Series page
7 - Islands of Rights Revolutions?
from Part II - The Judicialisation of the Right to Health
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 January 2021
- Health As a Human Right
- Cambridge Studies in Law and Society
- Health As a Human Right
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Map
- Tables
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- Part I The Politics of the Right to Health
- Part II The Judicialisation of the Right to Health
- 5 The Judicialisation of Health in Numbers
- 6 How the Haves Come Out Ahead in Health Litigation
- 7 Islands of Rights Revolutions?
- 8 Unequal Justice
- Part III What Role for Courts?
- Bibliography
- Index
- Series page
Summary
In Chapter 6, I discussed the broader picture of access to Justice in Brazil using the analytical framework of the ‘opportunity structure for legal mobilisation’ developed in the political sciences’ literature. I argued that, despite some advances in the past thirty years, the opportunity structure of most Brazilians (in particular, the poorest), has not improved sufficiently to make their traditionally hard path to the courts much easier. Although procedural barriers such as rules of standing are rather low in Brazil, and the prospects of success in court are very high, crucial resources needed for legal mobilisation are still rather scarce across the population, in particular, financial resources, rights awareness and access to legal services and courts. As regards the latter, improvements did take place through the expansion of the free legal services of state attorneys (the Public Defensory and the Attorney General’s Office) and the extension of the Special Courts (‘small claims’ courts), which are cheaper and less formal. The scale and depth of such changes, however, was well below what would be necessary to produce significant transformation in access to justice, especially as the vast majority of the population have very limited income and education, two other crucial components of the opportunity structure for legal mobilisation (see Sections 6.2 and 6.3, Chapter 6).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Health as a Human RightThe Politics and Judicialisation of Health in Brazil, pp. 193 - 224Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020