Carlos Ranulfo Melo

The 2014 Elections and the Brazilian Party System

The Brazilian party system presents a paradox. Although the Workers Party (PT) and the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB) have controlled presidential elections for the last 20 years, their force at the other levels of electoral competition has not grown. The objective of this study is to undertake a discussion of this situation through the 2014 general elections. After attempting to explain why successive challengers have not been able to change the structure of competition for the Brazilian presidency, I will analyze the relation established between the pattern observed at this level and the other “connected” electoral disputes—both those for state executive and federal legislative office. The general conclusion is that even if the pattern continues, it is quite improbable that this will significantly impact the other levels of national political party competition.

Brasil: dos décadas de democracia

La democracia brasilena completo dos decadas y es bajo esta inspiracion que este articulo analiza el escenario politico, social y economico del pais en 2008. Teniendo en mente que las elecciones municipales, realizadas en octubre, fueron el evento central de la coyuntura, el articulo identifica cuales fueron los actores relevantes, sus respectivas agendas y modelos de interaccion y en que contexto se desarrollo todo el proceso. Posteriormente, las elecciones son analizadas tanto en lo que se refiere a sus resultados como en lo que es posible detectar en terminos de efectos sobre la disputa presidencial de 2010.

Y LA NAVE VA: BRASIL BAJO DlLMA ROUSSEFF

Resumen es: Este articulo hace un analisis del escenario politico brasileno a lo largo del segundo ano de gobierno de Dilma Rousseff. Han sido cuatro los objetivos d...

Avaliando vínculos entre partidos e deputados nas Assembleias Legislativas brasileiras

This article starts from the assumption that there is significant variation in the relationship between legislators and parties in Brazil and seeks to explain it from a study conducted in twelve states. The variation is measured with the aid of an index of partisanship, built on a set of questions asked the elected representatives to the Legislative Assemblies in 2007-2011 and 2011-2015 legislatures. The variation found is explained on two levels. The first refers to one of the dimensions of institutionalization of various state party systems: the stability of electoral competition. The second refers to a series of individual characteristics of the deputies, among which stands out the time to party affiliation. Ideology, degree of particularism in office and degree of progressivism in relation to contemporary issues also have significant impact on the dependent variable - the degree of partisanship. The hypotheses presented here had been tested based on data for the first of the above legislatures. By adding a second term, this study confirms and gives more robust results found.

As instituições políticas brasileiras funcionam

.Segundo o autor, as instituicoes brasileiras funcionam mal. Entre as instituicoes “disfuncionais” devem serincluidos “o sistema eleitoral, as regras de formacao de partidos, a natureza da presidencia e a separacao depoderes entre o governo federal, governos estaduais e prefeituras” (AMES, 2003, p. 332). Combinadas, taisinstituicoes produzem um numero excessivo de

Political Parties: The Case of Brazil

Brazil has a strong presidential tradition and a weak party history. When the national parties emerged in 1945, the scene had already been set: the parties did not have any important participation in defining the general characteristics of the institutional arrangement — from the government system to the electoral system — and saw before them a state apparatus occupied by a bureaucracy set up in the period of the Estado Novo. While the main parties of the time were able to establish themselves among the electorate, their trajectory was interrupted by the military coup of 1964. The substitution of the system for a bipartisan one imposed by the military ended up reproducing something which had already occurred in the past and would again in the future. The fact that, for the first time in its history, the Brazilian parties were functioning in a stable democracy did not alter the general framework with regard to the parties’ organizational profile and ties to society.