The Brazilian Ministério Público (MP) is an agency that aims to monitor the enforcement of criminal law, prosecuting wherever necessary, in addition to protecting relevant collective goods, such as those included in consumer and environmental regulations. These latter types of powers—established for the first time in the 1934 Constitution and consolidated in the 1988 Constitution—are uncommon from a comparative perspective. Although at first glance they could be seen to be useful for enforcing important principles and fundamental rights, I argue that the gradual empowerment of the MP could potentially have damaged civil society associations’ (CSAs) capacity for legal mobilization, since the areas of competence of this legal institution largely overlap with the niche in which civil society advocacy organizations operate. The experimentalist constitutional design combined with the gradual activist behavior from its members, have positioned the MP as perhaps one of the major institutional guardians of the public interest after Brazil’s re-democratization. I conclude by suggesting that the MP should develop strategies to enhance the representativeness and effectiveness of CSAs by engaging in a fruitful dialogue with them, including the monitoring of those cases once they leave the courtroom. In turn, CSAs also have strategic incentives to align with the MP, mainly to withstand current judicial skepticism about its institutional capacity for public law litigation.

中文翻译：

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“我们检察官”：巴西公法诉讼中社会参与的挑战

巴西 Ministério Público (MP) 是一个旨在监督刑法执行情况的机构，在必要时进行起诉，此外还保护相关的集体物品，例如消费者和环境法规中包含的物品。后一类权力——在 1934 年宪法中首次确立并在 1988 年宪法中得到巩固——从比较的角度来看并不常见。尽管乍一看它们可能被视为对执行重要原则和基本权利很有用，但我认为，逐渐赋予国会议员权力可能会损害公民社会协会 (CSA) 的法律动员能力，因为这一法律机构在很大程度上与民间社会宣传组织运作的领域重叠。实验主义的宪法设计与其成员逐渐激进的行为相结合，使国会议员可能成为巴西重新民主化后公共利益的主要机构监护人之一。最后，我建议国会议员应制定战略，通过与 CSA 进行富有成果的对话来提高 CSA 的代表性和有效性，包括在这些案件离开法庭后对其进行监督。反过来，CSA 也有与国会议员结盟的战略动机，主要是为了抵御当前司法对其公法诉讼机构能力的怀疑。最后，我建议国会议员应制定战略，通过与 CSA 进行富有成果的对话来提高 CSA 的代表性和有效性，包括在这些案件离开法庭后对其进行监督。反过来，CSA 也有与国会议员结盟的战略动机，主要是为了抵御当前司法对其公法诉讼机构能力的怀疑。最后，我建议国会议员应制定战略，通过与 CSA 进行富有成果的对话来提高 CSA 的代表性和有效性，包括在这些案件离开法庭后对其进行监督。反过来，CSA 也有与国会议员结盟的战略动机，主要是为了抵御当前司法对其公法诉讼机构能力的怀疑。