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The Political Consequences of Center-Led Redistribution in Brazilian Federalism: The Fall of Subnational Party Machines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

André Borges
André Borges*
Affiliation:
University of Brasília
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Abstract

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The article aims to identify the factors behind a series of center-left electoral victories in the 2002 and 2006 state elections, which indicate the decay of state political machines in Brazil's poorest regions. It is argued that vertical competition between the federal and state governments in the provision of public policies works as a constraint on state bosses' strategies of political control. The withering of state political machines may be understood as an indirect consequence of the national political shifts represented by the rise of Brazil's most important left-wing organization—the Workers' Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores)—to the presidency in 2002 and 2006. Social and economic policies implemented by the federal government under PT rule undermined subnational patron-client networks by improving the life conditions of the poorest sections of the electorate. The article explores the interlinking of national and subnational electoral dynamics by developing statistical models for state- and municipal-level data.

Resumo

Resumo

Este trabalho procura identificar os fatores por trás de da série de vitórias obtidas por coalizões de centro-esquerda nas eleições estaduais de 2002 e 2006, que indicam a decadência das máquinas políticas estaduais nas regiões mais pobres do Brasil. O artigo argumenta que a competição vertical entre os governos federal e estadual na provisão de políticas públicas limita as estratégias de controle político dos chefes estaduais. O enfraquecimento das máquinas partidárias estaduais pode ser entendido como resultado indireto do realinhamento eleitoral representado pela ascensão do mais importante partido de esquerda brasileiro —o Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT)— à presidência em 2002 e 2006. As políticas económicas e sociais implementadas pelo governo do PT solaparam as redes clientelistas estaduais, levando à melhoria das condições de vida do eleitorado mais pobre. O artigo explora as conexões entre a dinâmica eleitoral nacional e subnacional desenvolvendo modelos estatísticos com dados estaduais e municipais.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , 2011 , pp. 21 - 45
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 by the Latin American Studies Association

Footnotes

I am grateful to the National Council for Scientific Development and Research (CNPq) for supporting the research presented in this article. I am also indebted to LARR's three anonymous reviewers.

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