Direito de acesso à informação: um instrumento de liberdade política dos cidadãos

Abstract

This article analyzes the fundamental right to access public information as an instrument of citizen freedom. Therefore, we ask: How can the fundamental right to information function as an instrument to reduce arbitrary interference in the political freedom of citizens, in the perspective of Phillip Pettit's Neo-Public Theory? In this sense, through the literature review in a dialectical, critical perspective, we present the right of access to public information, especially the rule brought by the Brazilian Law on Access to Information. We describe the conceptual elements of the Theory of Freedom as Phillip Pettit's Non-domination, especially under the aspect of the exercise of citizenship duties and government domination over citizens' political freedom. Finally, we analyze the application of the right to access public information to the categories of Pettit's theory in particular, to strategies for reducing the “imperium”. We conclude that the right to information is an essential tool for reducing arbitrary interference in the freedom of citizens, despite recognizing that the biggest challenge for the exercise of citizenship is the necessary change in the attitude of the Brazilian citizen, who would need to leave the condition of apathetic spectator to become the protagonist of the country's political life