Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T19:40:43.776Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Origins of Presidential Conditional Agenda-Setting Power in Latin America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2022

Eduardo Alemán  and
George Tsebelis
Eduardo Alemán
Affiliation:
University of Houston
George Tsebelis
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This paper examines the origins of amendatory vetoes in Latin America and shows why presidents' ability to present a redrafted bill after congressional passage gives them considerable power to affect legislation. The paper begins with a historical account that illustrates the workings of amendatory observations in nineteenth-century Latin America—the passage of the Electoral Law of 1874 in Chile. Next, it specifies the degree to which different constitutional procedures allow presidents to redraft legislation and shows why the power to introduce amendatory observations provides greater discretion than the power of the better-known block veto, regardless of override thresholds. Lastly, the paper traces the origins of amendatory observations back to the first wave of constitution writing that followed the wars of independence. Our findings challenge prior classifications of veto powers in Latin America and highlight the positive agenda-setting power afforded to the president at the last stage of the lawmaking process.

William H. Riker, “Lincoln at Freeport”

Resumen

Resumen

Este trabajo examina los orígenes del veto sustitutivo en América Latina y muestra por qué la habilidad de responder con una propuesta de ley modificada luego de que el congreso haya pasado su versión, suministra a los presidentes suficiente poder para influir en la legislación. El trabajo comienza con una narración histórica que ilustra el funcionamiento del veto sustitutivo en el siglo XIX en América Latina— la aprobación de la Ley Electoral chilena de 1874. Luego, especifica cuán lejos pueden llegar los presidentes bajo diferentes procedimientos constitucionales y muestra por qué el poder para introducir vetos sustitutivos provee mayor autoridad que el poder del más conocido veto total. Por último, el trabajo traza los orígenes constitucionales del veto sustitutivo comenzando con las versiones iniciales escritas luego de las guerras de independencia. Los resultados desafían las clasificaciones anteriores del poder del veto en América Latina destacando la influencia del veto sustitutivo en la agenda parlamentaria, el cual proporciona al presidente un poder crucial en la última fase del proceso legislativo.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , June 2005 , pp. 3 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

*

Earlier versions of this article were presented at the annual meetings of the Midwest Political Science Association, (April 15–17, 2004, Chicago, Illinois) and the American Political Science Association, (September 2–4, 2004, Chicago, Illinois). The authors would like to thank Gustavo Grohmann, Mark P. Jones, Barbara Geddes, John Carey, Andrés Mejía Acosta and the anonymous reviewers for their comments. All errors and omissions are our own.

References

Aguilar Rivera, José Antonio 2000 En pos de la quimera: Reflexiones sobre el experimento constitucional atlántico. Mexico City: Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas and Fondo de Cultura Económica.Google Scholar
Aguilar Rivera, José Antonio 2002 “El experimento constitucional bajo la lupa: Respuesta a mis críticos.” Política y Gobierno 9 (2): 469–85.Google Scholar
Alberdi, Juan Bautista 1997 [1852] Bases y puntos de partida para la organización política de la República Argentina. Buenos Aires: Editorial Plus Ultra.Google Scholar
Congreso Nacional de Chile 1874 Sesiones Extraordinarias. Cámara de Diputados y Senado.Google Scholar
Cox, Gary W., and Morgenstern, Scott 2002 “Epilogue: Latin America's Reactive Assemblies and Proactive Presidents,” in Legislative Politics in Latin America, edited by Morgenstern, Scott and Nacif, Benito, 446–68. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Elorza, Tomás Pablo 1971 El Congreso Nacional visto desde su presidencia. Santiago de Chile: Editorial Andres Bello.Google Scholar
Encina, Francisco 1954 Resumen de la historia de Chile. Santiago de Chile: Zig-Zag Editora.Google Scholar
Fitzgibbon, Russell H. 1948 The Constitutions of the Americas, as of January 1st, 1948. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Gargarella, Roberto 2002 “Discutiendo el constitucionalismo hispanoamericano.” Política y Gobierno 9 (2): 445–467.Google Scholar
Gargarella, Roberto 2004 “Towards a Typology of Latin American Constitutionalism, 1810–1860.” Latin American Research Review 39 (2): 141–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giménez de Aréchaga, Justino 1946 La Constitución Nacional, Vol. IV. Montevideo: Organización Taquigráfica Edina.Google Scholar
Hueneeus, Jorge 1890 La Constitución frente al Congreso. Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Cervantes.Google Scholar
Leiras, Marcelo, and Zimmermann, Eduardo 2003 “Relaciones entre poderes, representación y equilibrio politico en la elaboración constitucional hispanoamericana del Siglo XIX: Una interpretación del debate de aprobación de la Constitución Chilena de 1833.” Paper presented at the International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, Dallas, TX.Google Scholar
Lessas Bastos, Marcelo 2000 “Considerações sobre o veto presidencial aos projetos de lei.” Working Paper. Faculdade de Dereito, Campos, Brazil.Google Scholar
Londregan, John 2000 Legislative Institutions and Ideology in Chile. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mello Grohmann, Luis G. 2003 “O veto presidencial no Brasil: 1946–1964 e 1990–2000.” PhD Diss. Instituto Universitario de Pesquisas do Rio de Janeiro.Google Scholar
Metcalf, Lee K. 2000 “Measuring Presidential Power.” Comparative Political Studies 33 (5): 661–685.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Jonathan M. 1997 “The Authority of a Foreign Talisman: A Study of U.S. Constitutional Practice as Authority in Nineteenth Century Argentina and the Argentine Elite's Leap of Fate.” American University Law Review 46 (5): 1483–1572. (June).Google Scholar
Milnes, Osvaldo A. 1918 El Veto Presidencial. Santiago de Chile: Sociedad Imprenta-Litografía Universo.Google Scholar
Molinelli, Guillermo N. 1991 Presidentes y congresos en Argentina: Mitos y realidades. Buenos Aires: Grupo Editorial Latinoamericano.Google Scholar
Nacif, Benito 2002 “Policy Making under Divided Government in Mexico.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Boston, MA, August 29-September 1.Google Scholar
Negretto, Gabriel 2002 “Redesigning Executive-Legislative Relations in Latin America: The Cases of Brazil, Peru and Argentina.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Boston, MA, August 29–September 1.Google Scholar
Pérez Liñán, Anibal 2002 “Constitutional Crises and Political Stability in Presidential Regimes.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Boston, MA, August 29-September 1.Google Scholar
Rapaczynski, Andrzej 1990 “Bibliographical Essay: The Influence of U.S. Constitutionalism Abroad,” in Constitutionalism and Rights: The Influence of the United States Constitution Abroad, edited by Louis Henkin & Albert J. Rosenthal, 401–62. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Riker, William H. 1986 The Art of Political Manipulation. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Scully, Timothy 1995 “Reconstructing Party Politics in Chile.” In Building Democratic Institutions: Party Systems in Latin America, edited by Mainwaring, Scott and Scully, Timothy, 100–137. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Shugart, Matthew S., and Carey, John M. 1992 Presidents and Assemblies: Constitutional Design and Electoral Dynamics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shugart, Matthew S., and Haggard, Stephan 2001 “Institutions and Public Policy in Presidential Systems.” In Presidents, Parliaments and Policy, edited by Haggard, Stephan and McCubbins, Mathew D., 64–102. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Thompson, Kenneth W. 1991 The U.S. Constitution and the Constitutions of Latin America. Lanham: University Press of America.Google Scholar
Tsebelis, George, and Alemán, Eduardo 2003 “Presidential Conditional Agenda Setting Power.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia, PA, August 28–31.Google Scholar
Valenzuela, Arturo 1977 Political Brokers in Chile: Local Government in a Centralized Polity. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Valenzuela, Samuel J. 1985 Democratización via reforma: La expansion del sufragio en Chile. Buenos Aires: IDES.Google Scholar
Valenzuela, Samuel J. 1996 “Building Aspects of Democracy Before Democracy: Electoral Practices in Nineteenth Century Chile.” Working Paper 223. Kellogg Institute, Notre Dame University.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilmert, Raimundo 1911 “Diferencias de atribuciones entre el ejecutivo de los Estados Unidos y el nuestro.” Revista Argentina de Ciencias Políticas 2: 314.Google Scholar