An Institutional Approach to Understanding Leftist Party Change in Brazil: Corporate Campaign Contributions, Leadership Moderation, and Societal Interests
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2010
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu12768070522021-08-03T06:00:01Z An Institutional Approach to Understanding Leftist Party Change in Brazil: Corporate Campaign Contributions, Leadership Moderation, and Societal Interests Lance, Justin Earl Political Science Brazil Campaign Finance Business the New Left in Latin America the PT <p>Leftist victories in Latin America in the early part of the 2000s sent shockwaves through the international investment community. Foreign investors, scared that these victories would be the end of pro-business, pro-market policies in the region, began to flee from a large part of the region. Yet, only a few short years later, it was clear that while some leftist victories, particularly those in Venezuela and Bolivia, were indeed the end of pro-business, pro-market policies, other leftist victories in the region were not. Some countries, in particular Brazil, continued with and, in some cases, deepened the pro-business policies of the previous administrations. This has simultaneously raised questions concerning the abandonment of the left’s traditional constituency: labor unions.</p><p>This dissertation examines why the left in Brazil, led by the Partido dos Trabalhadores (or PT) and its charismatic leader and current President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, continued with the pro-business policies of the prior center-right administration while simultaneously pursuing policies that the party’s labor union allies opposed when the left took office in 2002. This dissertation relies on a new measure of party change in Brazil by focusing on interest group positions on legislation, thus showing how the leftist legislators in the Brazilian Câmara dos Deputados (Chamber of Deputies) increasingly supported policies that labor unions opposed, but the business sector supported. </p><p>The theoretical premise of this work is that the institutions structuring “two arenas” of Brazilian politics were, in part, responsible for understanding changes in leftist deputies’ voting patterns. The first arena, the congressional, stresses that the institutions governing behavior in the Câmara dos Deputados allowed those in leadership positions to enforce increased discipline on its members, causing deputies to vote in a manner consistent with the leadership’s position. Because the party and chamber leadership increasingly advocated a pro-business and anti-labor position, it enforced discipline on its members, causing leftist deputies serving in government to vote in opposition to labor unions (their traditional allies) and in support of business. The second arena, the electoral, is governed by institutions that allow corporations to donate contributions to candidates’ campaigns but that also prohibit donations from peak associations, including labor unions. Leftist deputies thus became reliant on corporations to fund the excessively high costs of their campaigns, which in turn caused leftist deputies to increasingly vote in favor of business interests and against their traditional labor union allies. </p><p>The results of this project confirm that both factors (serving in government and levels of corporate campaign contributions) significantly impact leftist deputies’ votes on legislation deemed important to business and union interests. Serving in government and receiving higher levels of corporate donations significantly increased leftist deputies’ propensity to vote against their traditional constituency and in favor of business interests. These results not only help to explain the shift of the left in Brazil but also raise important questions regarding the implications of this shift for the representation of all segments of society.</p> 2010-09-15 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1276807052 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1276807052 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws. |
| collection |
NDLTD |
| language |
English |
| sources |
NDLTD |
| topic |
Political Science Brazil Campaign Finance Business the New Left in Latin America the PT |
| spellingShingle |
Political Science Brazil Campaign Finance Business the New Left in Latin America the PT Lance, Justin Earl An Institutional Approach to Understanding Leftist Party Change in Brazil: Corporate Campaign Contributions, Leadership Moderation, and Societal Interests |
| author |
Lance, Justin Earl |
| author_facet |
Lance, Justin Earl |
| author_sort |
Lance, Justin Earl |
| title |
An Institutional Approach to Understanding Leftist Party Change in Brazil: Corporate Campaign Contributions, Leadership Moderation, and Societal Interests |
| title_short |
An Institutional Approach to Understanding Leftist Party Change in Brazil: Corporate Campaign Contributions, Leadership Moderation, and Societal Interests |
| title_full |
An Institutional Approach to Understanding Leftist Party Change in Brazil: Corporate Campaign Contributions, Leadership Moderation, and Societal Interests |
| title_fullStr |
An Institutional Approach to Understanding Leftist Party Change in Brazil: Corporate Campaign Contributions, Leadership Moderation, and Societal Interests |
| title_full_unstemmed |
An Institutional Approach to Understanding Leftist Party Change in Brazil: Corporate Campaign Contributions, Leadership Moderation, and Societal Interests |
| title_sort |
institutional approach to understanding leftist party change in brazil: corporate campaign contributions, leadership moderation, and societal interests |
| publisher |
The Ohio State University / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2010 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1276807052 |
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