Collective actions in contemporary Brazilian law: where we come from, where are we and where will we go?/As acoes coletivas no direito brasileiro contemporaneo: de onde viemos, onde estamos e para onde vamos?

The theme of collective actions, in recent decades, received growing attention in the Brazilian doctrine. The development of collective protection in Brazil was marked by three major episodes: the approval of the Public Civil Action Law in 1985, the promulgation of the Constitution of 1988 and the advent of the Code of Consumer Protection in 1990. However, in spite of its considerable merits, collective actions in Brazil failed in its promise to provide uniformity of decisions, speed and procedural economy. This article therefore aims to investigate what are the prospects for collective action in Brazil, highlighting the recent development of a microsystem of collective actions, the attempts to approve a code on the matter and the role they will play in the future, along with other collective dispute resolution procedures.