Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T02:10:01.380Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Elite Preferences in a Consolidating Democracy: The Brazilian Legislative Surveys, 1990–2009

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Timothy J. Power  and
Cesar Zucco Jr.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines key ideological, economic, and institutional preferences of the Brazilian political elite in the first 25 years of the country's present democratic regime. Introducing the unified dataset of the Brazilian Legislative Surveys, it examines several crucial dimensions of politicians' attitudes, including elite placement on a traditional left-right scale, preferences concerning the fundamental economic model, direct comparisons of the recent Cardoso and Lula governments, and orientations toward Brazil's global and regional projection. On many of the central issues, attitudes have remained stable, but on the dimensions that have seen notable change, nearly all the change has been in the direction of decreasing polarization. In contrast to the experience of some neighboring countries, the Brazilian case demonstrates that the sustained practice of democracy can lead to attitudinal convergence and macro-political stability, even when the initial political and socioeconomic conditions appear daunting.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 54 , Issue 4 , Winter 2012 , pp. 1 - 27
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alcántara Sáez, Manuel, ed. 2007. Politicians and Politics in Latin America. Boulder : Lynne Rienner. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aldrich, John H., and McKelvey, Richard D.. 1977. A Method of Scaling with Applications to the 1968 and 1972 Presidential Elections. American Political Science Review 71, 1: 111–30. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amorim Neto, Octavio. 2009. O Brasil, Lijphart e o modelo consensual de democracia. In O legislativo brasileiro em perspectiva comparada, ed. Inácio, Magna and Rennó, Lucio. Belo Horizonte : Editora UFMG. 105–31. Google Scholar
Cason, Jeffrey, and Power, Timothy J.. 2009. Presidentialization, Pluralization, and the Rollback of Itamaraty: Explaining Change in Brazilian Foreign Policy Making in the Cardoso-Lula Era. International Political Science Review 30, 2 (March): 117–40. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Desposato, Scott W. 2007. Reforma política brasileira: o que precisa ser consertado, o que não precisa e o que fazer. In Instituições representativas no Brasil: balanço e reformas, ed. Nicolau, Jairo and Power, Timothy J.. Belo Horizonte : Editora UFMG. 123–53. Google Scholar
King, Gary, Murray, Christopher J. L., Salomon, Joshua A., and Tandon, Ajay. 2004. Enhancing the Validity and Cross-Cultural Comparability of Measurement in Survey Research. American Political Science Review 98, 1: 191–207. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mainwaring, Scott. 1991. Politicians, Parties, and Electoral Systems: Brazil in Comparative Perspective. Comparative Politics 24: 21–43. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mainwaring, Scott. 1993. Presidentialism, Multipartism, and Democracy: the Difficult Combination. Comparative Political Studies 26, 2: 198–228. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martínez-Lara, Javier. 1996. Building Democracy in Brazil: The Politics of Constitutional Change, 1985–1995. New York : St. Martin's Press. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayorga, René. 2005. Bolivia's Democracy at the Crossroads. In The Third Wave of Democratization in Latin America: Advances and Setbacks, ed. Hagopian, Frances and Mainwaring, Scott. New York : Cambridge University Press. 149–78. Google Scholar
McCoy, Jennifer L. 1999. Latin America's Imperiled Progress: Chávez and the End of “Partyarchy” in Venezuela. Journal of Democracy 10: 64–77. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montero, Alfred P. 2010. No Country for Leftists? Clientelist Continuity and the 2006 Vote in the Brazilian Northeast. Journal of Politics in Latin America 2, 2: 113–53. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierucci, Antônio Flávio. 1987. As bases da nova direita. Novos Estudos CEBRAP 19: 26–45. Google Scholar
Poole, Keith. 1998. Recovering a Basic Space from a Set of Issue Scales. American Journal of Political Science 42, 3 (July): 954–93. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Power, Timothy J. 2000. The Political Right in Postauthoritarian Brazil: Elites, Institutions, and Democratization. University Park : Pennsylvania State University Press. Google Scholar
Power, Timothy J., and Zucco, Cesar Jr. 2009. Estimating Ideology of Brazilian Legislative Parties, 1990–2005. Latin American Research Review 44, 1 (February): 218–45. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodrigues, Leôncio Martins. 1987. Quem é quem na Constituinte: uma análise sócio-política dos partidos e deputados. São Paulo : OESP-Maltese. Google Scholar
Stokes, Donald. 1963. Spatial Models of Party Competition. American Political Science Review 57, 2: 368–77. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weyland, Kurt. 2005. The Growing Sustainability of Brazil's Low-Quality Democracy. In The Third Wave of Democratization in Latin America: Advances and Setbacks, ed. Hagopian, Frances and Mainwaring, Scott. New York : Cambridge University Press. 90–120. Google Scholar
Wiesehomeier, Nina, and Benoit, Kenneth. 2009. Presidents, Parties, and Policy Competition. Journal of Politics 71, 4: 1435–47. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zucco, Cesar Jr. 2009. Ideology or What? Legislative Behavior in a Multiparty Presidentialist Setting. Journal of Politics 71, 3: 1076–92. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zucco, Cesar Jr., and Lauderdale, Benjamin E.. 2011. Distinguishing between Influences on Brazilian Legislative Behavior. Legislative Studies Quarterly 36, 3 (August): 363–96. CrossRefGoogle Scholar