The Complexity of Tax Lawsuits in Light of the Theory of Communicative Action: A Contribution to the Litigious Reality of the Municipality of Natal
Theory of Communicative Action; Consensual Methods; High-Complexity Actions; Municipality of Natal.
This dissertation investigates the complexity of public treasury claims in the Municipality of Natal/RN in light of Jürgen Habermas's Theory of Communicative Action, with the aim of verifying whether the procedural instruments currently in force in the Brazilian legal system are capable of promoting communicative rationality and deliberative democracy in litigious relations in which the State acts as a party. The study begins with an analysis of the Habermasian theoretical foundations concerning communicative rationality, deliberative democracy, and discursive procedurality, articulating them with the constitutional principles of the Federal Constitution of 1988, the Code of Civil Procedure of 2015, and Resolution No. 125 of the National Council of Justice, which institutionalize consensual conflict resolution mechanisms such as conciliation and mediation. Subsequently, the legal framework governing the Public Treasury in judicial proceedings is examined, with emphasis on high-complexity actions and public civil actions, through the empirical analysis of eight judicial cases involving the Municipality of Natal, related to urban planning, environmental, and public policy matters. The research demonstrates that high-complexity public treasury litigation demands not only technical and legal solutions, but also dialogical spaces that enable the deliberative participation of the actors involved, in accordance with the Habermasian procedural paradigm. It is concluded that the incorporation of the Theory of Communicative Action as a guiding method for institutional dialogue may contribute to overcoming adversarial logic, fostering more legitimate, effective, and democratically grounded consensuses in the resolution of highly complex conflicts involving municipal public authorities.