Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer
Revista E-Legis

Dossiê Sistema Polí­tico Brasileiro - CEFOR / IMPA / EPRG-UnB

V. 15 N. 37 Jan./Abr. 2022

HOW DIFFERENT IS THE BRAZILIAN POLITICAL SYSTEM? A COMPARATIVE STUDY

DOI
https://doi.org/10.51206/elegis.v15i37.741
Submitted
June 25, 2021
Published
2022-03-14

Abstract

This paper provides an up-to-date comparison of Brazil's political system with that of 33 other democracies. We show that Brazil is an outlier with respect to the number of effective parties, the total government budget allocated to the legislative power, and the public funds allocated to parties (to fund campaigns and regular party operations). Brazil is also unique in its electoral management body: it is the only country in our sample in which the judiciary both organizes and oversees the electoral process. We also find a positive correlation between total public funding and the total number of effective parties.

References

  1. AMES, Barry. The deadlock of democracy in Brazil. University of Michigan Press, 2001.
  2. AVELINO, George and FISCH, Arthur. Money, Elections, and Candidates. Routledge handbook of Brazilian politics, pp. 161-174, 2020.
  3. CATT, Helena, ELLIS, Andrew, MALEY, Michael, WOLF, Peter, and WALL, Alan. Electoral management design. Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, 2014.
  4. COLOMER, Josep M. The more parties, the greater policy stability. European Political Science 11.2, pp. 229-243, 2012.
  5. FALGUERA, Elin, JONES, Samuel, and OHMAN, Magnus. Funding of political parties and election campaigns: A handbook on political finance. IDEA, 2015.
  6. FIGUEIREDO, Argelina Cheibub and LIMONGI, Fernando. Presidential Power, Legislative Organization, and Party Behavior in Brazil. Comparative Politics, 32.2, pp. 151-170, 2000.
  7. LAAKSO, Markku and TAAGEPERA, Rein. “Effective” number of parties: a measure with application to West Europe. Comparative political studies 12.1, pp. 3-27, 1979.
  8. LARCINESE, Valentino. Is the UK parliament too large? British Politics and Policy at LSE, 2010.
  9. MAINWARING, Scott. Politicians, parties, and electoral systems: Brazil in comparative perspective. Comparative Politics 24.1, pp. 21- 43, 1991.
  10. MAINWARING, Scott. Multipartism, Robust Federalism, and Presidentialism in Brazil. In S. Mainwaring & M. Shugart (Eds.), Presidentialism and Democracy in Latin America (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics, pp. 55-109). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1997.
  11. MAINWARING, Scott. Rethinking party systems in the third wave of democratization: the case of Brazil. Stanford University Press, 1999.
  12. ORTUNO-ORTÍN, Ignacio, and SCHULTZ, Christian. Public Funding of Political Parties. Journal of Public Economic Theory, 7.5, 781-791, 2005.
  13. PORTUGAL, Adriana Cuoco, BUGARIN, Maurício, and DAL BÓ, Ernesto. Electoral Campaign Financing: The Role of Public Contributions and Party Ideology [with Comments]. Economía 8.1, 143-77, 2007.
  14. SAMUELS, David. Incumbents and Challengers on a level playing field: assessing the impact of campaign finance in Brazil. Journal of Politics 63.2, pp. 569- 584, 2001a.
  15. SAMUELS, David. Money, Elections, and Democracy in Brazil. Latin American Politics and Society 43.2, 27-48, 2001b.
  16. SAMUELS, David. Does Money Matter? Credible Commitments and Campaign Finance in New Democracies: Theory and Evidence from Brazil. Comparative Politics 34.1: 23-42, 2001c.
  17. TROUMPOUNIS, Orestis. On the distribution of public funding to political parties. Economics Letters, 116.3, 367-370, 2012.
  18. ZUCCO, Cesar and POWER, Timothy J. Fragmentation Without Cleavages? Endogenous Fractionalization in the Brazilian Party System. Comparative Politics 53.3, pp. 477-500, 2021.