Agenda Power in Brazil's Câmara Dos Deputados, 1989–98 (original) (raw)

Beyond Brazilian Coalition Presidentialism: The Appropriation of the Legislative Agenda

Even though they possess several power resources, Brazilian Presidents also elaborate their legislative proposals based upon bills already being processed in Congress through a phenomenon called Appropriation of the legislative agenda. In this paper I examine the conditions under which this phenomenon occurs by means of a typology and a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). I conclude that Appropriation provides the President with the expansion of the formal support base by controlling the agenda of allied and opposition parties as well as obtaining the "paternity" of several policies already in motion in Congress, thus enabling a public association of the President’s actions and his or her party with the possibility of social benefits. Be it in the pursuit of promising agendas or for the maintenance of their own dominance, Appropriation shows that Brazilian presidents must go beyond Coalition Presidentialism.

Democracy in Brazil: presidentialism, party coalitions and the decision making process

Novos Estudos - Cebrap, 2007

There is no reason to treat the Brazilian political system as singular. Coalitions obey and are governed by party principles. The president, whose institutional power was enhanced by the 1988 Constitution, has a monopoly over legislative initiative, which approximates the Brazilian system to the European parliamentary democracies. Even though it is based upon empirical data, this essay formulates theoretical problems, such as the importance of institutional choices and how these impact on relations between the majority and minority in democratic governments.

Agenda Setting and Gridlock in a Multiparty Coalitional Presidential System: The Case of Brazil

2016

Presidents in Latin America commonly have several agenda-setting powers and are important lawmakers in the land. Yet, many of these presidents regularly face situations of minority governments or majority coalitions, with difficult intra-coalition bargaining and a significant potential for gridlock (Cheibub 2010, Shugart and Carey 1992, Tsebelis and Alemán 2005, Ames 2001). Although party systems in Latin America vary dramatically in their levels of institutionalization and fragmentation (Mainwaring and Scully 1995), overall the number of parties in the region surpasses the two-party logic of the US case. The dynamics of legislative conflict in such environments is quite distinct from that of divided government. Consequently, mapping agenda powers and the processes of negotiation within and between coalitions composed of heterogeneous parties is fundamental to understand lawmaking in the region. Consider, for instance, that Brazilian presidents typically put together governing coalitions comprised of various parties. With some twenty parties in the legislature, the president's party alone never holds more than twenty percent of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies, generating the need and incentive for coalition government. The low level of Brazilian party institutionalization and high party fragmentation add to the governability problem (Mainwaring 1999). For these reasons, since 1994 successive presidents-Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Luiz

Federalism, Party Politics and Coalition Dynamics (Handbook of Brazilian Politics)

Routledge Handbook of Brazilian Politics , 2018

Federalism and decentralized party and electoral rules have been an enduring feature of Brazilian democracy. The 1946 and 1988 Constitutions devolved substantial fiscal resources and policy authority to sub-national governments. Electoral rules reinforce political and financial decentralization by allowing sub-national officials to exert substantial influence in national politics as several important decisions relative to elections and party organization—such as party primaries to select candidates to all relevant national posts, with the exception of the presidency—are taken at the state level. This chapter analyzes how multilevel elections, strong subnational governments and decentralized electoral rules shape party and coalition dynamics in Brazil. The core argument is that the institutional mix chosen by the drafters of Brazil's 1988 Constitution creates cross-cutting incentives. On the one hand, in stark contrast with the 1946-1964 Republic, the current democratic regime is characterized by an extremely strong federal executive that counts on a wide array of institutional devices to induce both sub-national officials and national party leaders to cooperate with the chief executive's policy agenda. Also, concurrent presidential, national legislative and state elections since 1994 tend to strengthen presidential coattails and the related incentives for party coordination around presidential campaigns. However, at the same these institutions likely foster the organization of a nationalized party system and effective intergovernmental coordination, incentives and opportunities provided by multilevel elections in the context of autonomous sub-national party branches and highly permissive electoral rules allow for the survival and growth of poorly integrated, office-seeking party organizations organized around gubernatorial races This results in the formation of a highly fragmented party system in which presidents face significant costs to form both pre- and post-electoral coalitions.

Delegating Powers to the Cabinet: the Efficient Secret of Coalition Governance with decree powers in Brazil after 2001 - Working Paper

In this paper, I explore how a change in the decision-making process of the presidential decree authority in 2001 increased the benefits of coalition partners over policy contents of the presidential decrees. The reform of 2001 limited the capacity of the president to legislate unilaterally; instead, it became s t r a t e g i c f o r t h e p r e s i d e n t to initiate legislative changes by Executive decrees o n l y with legislative support based on the cabinet positions in the government. I suggest that the new rule has influenced the policy content of decrees that affect the policy-making strategies of presidents. The empirical analysis of changes to presidential decrees over time suggests that the value of belonging to the ruling coalition increases with the procedural advantages of the government's legislative power. The majority, in turn, provide the numbers to keep the coalition hold on power secure. My hypothesis is that balance between policy and legislative support is achieved through the elaborate intralegislative distribution of procedural privileges. My empirical analysis will test a spatial model based on changes of decree power procedures in the Brazilian multiparty system. I suggest that the effect of the reform of the presidential agenda powers increases the policy advantages that coalition members with cabinet positions can extract from the participation in the Government.

The Internal Organization of Brazilian Legislatures and Presidential Success

This abstract analyses the effects of the intercameral dynamics of the legislative process on the presidential success, in the context of the Brazilian “coalition presidentialism”. The main hypothesis of the essay is that the differences between the internal organization of the House of Representatives and of the Senate affect the coordination of the government coalitions during the legislative process as well as the presidential success in that arena. The legislative chambers offer different institutional incentives and opportunities for the congressmen and the oppositional coalitions to make known their individual preferences. In contrast to the literature that explains the presidential success in the legislative process through the formation of legislative cartels, this article points out the operational difference of this cartel in each legislative chamber. In special, the essay states that the internal organization of those chambers redefines the strategic advantages of the oppositional parties in terms of dealing with the impatience of the government in approving its legislative agenda. The article compares the deliberative process of four amendments to the Brazilian Constitution related to the Provisory Contribution of Financial Transactions (CPMF); which has been part of the presidential agenda since 1993, as one of the main sources of budget revenues of the Federal Government.

Journal of Politics in Latin America Analytical Essay The Evolution of Theories about the Brazilian Multiparty Presidential System

2015

In recent years, four approaches about executive-legislative relations in Brazil have emerged: i) the perspective that points out limitations and constraints of multiparty presidential systems; ii) the building of government coalitions; iii) coalition management; and iv) the role played by institutions including the prerogatives of party leadership inside the House. In this paper, we review the literature on these approaches , offering a guide for studies about the Brazilian multiparty presidential system. " Manuscript

Coalitional Stability and the Gains from Trade between the Executive and the Legislature in Brazil

2001

O Congresso brasileiro apresenta um grande potencial para ganhos de trocas. O problema de coordenação dentro do Congresso é resolvido pela concessão pela Constituição ao Presidente de diversos poderes legislativos. Estes poderes incluem: 1) o poder de estabelecer o status quo através de medidas provisórias; 2) autoridade exclusiva de iniciar determinados tipos de legislação; 3) exclusividade sobre a execução do orçamento; 4) o direito de nomear seu gabinete (sujeito à aprovação do Senado); 5) enorme poder discricionário sobre empregos no governo federal. O Presidente usa estes poderes para manter a estabilidade da coalizão entre os partidos que ele representa, o que permite que se implemente uma agenda de políticas e reformas. Se o Presidente não possuísse tais poderes, seria de esperar que o processo legislativo apresentaria grande instabilidade ou uma grande paralisia. Além disto, conceder poderes preponderantes ao Presidente como forma de estabilizar o processo decisório no Congresso pode ser um mecanismo superior ao sistema com comissões fortes ou um partido dominante. O Presidente, mais do que os membros do Congresso têm os interesses nacionais na sua função de utilidade, i.e. crescimento econômico e desigualdade de renda. Dado as instituições legislativas atuais, se o Presidente não possuísse fortes poderes legislativos, esperaríamos encontrar comportamento mais individualistas pelos congressistas e políticas menos prudentes.

The Evolution of Theories about the Brazilian Multiparty Presidential System

In recent years, four approaches about executive–legislative relations in Brazil have emerged: i) the perspective that points out limitations and constraints of multiparty presidential systems; ii) the building of government coalitions; iii) coalition management; and iv) the role played by institutions including the prerogatives of party leadership inside the House. In this paper, we review the literature on these aproaches offering a guide for studies about the Brazilian multiparty presidential system.

The Executive Connection: Explaining the Puzzles of Party Cohesion in Brazil

… LASA Congress, Guadalajara, Mexico, 1997

and Alain de Remes for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper; and Ana Caillaux for her invaluable research assistance. Amorim Neto's work was funded by fellowships awarded by the Brazilian Ministry of Education (CAPES), the Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies (CILAS),