Electoral Rules, Constituency Pressures. and Pork Barrel: Bases of Voting in the Brazilian Congress

15 Pages·1996·4.5 MB·English

by  Barry Ames

Encontro Nacional
de Produtores e Usuários
de Informações Sociais,
Econômicas e Territoriais
I FO ÇAO PARA UMA SOCIEDADE AI
III Confel ência Nacional IV Conferência Nacional
de G ogl afia e Cartografia de Estatí s tica
Reun i ã o de Institu iç ões Produtoras
Fór um de Usuários
Seminário "Desafios para Repensar o Trabalho"
Simpósio d e n o v a ç õ e s
J o rnada de C u r sos
Mostra d e Tecnologias de Informação
27 o 31 de maio de 1996
Rio de Janeiro, RJ BRASIL
60 anos
1936-1996
Uma das maneiras de olhar o ofício de produzir
informações sociais. econômicas e territoriais é como arte de
descrever o mundo. Estatísticas e mapas transportam os fenômenos
da realidade paro escalas apropriadas à perspectiva de nossa visão
humana e nos permitem pensar e agir à distância. construindo
avenidas de mão dupla que juntam o mundo e suas Imagens. Maior o
poder de síntese dessas representações. combinando. com precisão.
elementos dispersos e heterogêneos do cotidiano. maior o nosso
conhecimento e a nossa capacidade de compreender e transformar o
realidade.
Visto como arte. o ofício de produzir essas informações
reflete a cultura de um País e de suo época. como essa cultura vê o
mundo e o torna visível. redefinindo o que vê e o que hó poro se ver.
No cenório de contínuo inovação tecnológica e mudança
de culturas da sociedade contemporânea. os novas tecnologias de
informação - reunindo computadores. telecomunicações e redes de
informação - aceleram aquele movimento de mobilização do mundo
real. Aumenta a velocidade da acumulação de informação e são
ampliados seus requisitos de atualização. formato - mais flexível.
personalizado e interativo - e. principalmente. de acessibilidade. A
plataforma digital vem se consolidando como o meio mais simples.
barato e poderoso paro tratar a informação. tornando possíveis
novos produTos e serviços e conquistando novos usuários.
Acreditamos ser o ambiente de converso e controvérsia
e de troco entre os diferentes disciplinas. nas mesas redondas e
sess;ões temáticos das Conferências Nacionais de Geografia.
Cartografia e Estatístico e do Simpósio de Inovações. aquele que
melhor ens~a o aprimoramento do consenso sobre os fenômenos a
serem mensurados para retratar o sociedade. a economia e o
Territóno nacional e sobre os prioridades e formatos dos informações
necessórias para o fortalecimento da cidadania. a definição de
políticas públicas e a gestão político - administrativa do País. e poro
criar uma sociedade mais justa.
Simon Schwartzman
Coordenador Geral do ENCONTRO
Promoção
Fundação Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística
IBGE
Fundação Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística
IBGE
Associação Brasileira de Estudos Populacionais
ABEP
Co-Promoção
Associação Brasileira de Estatística
ABE
Associação Brasileira de Estudos do Trabalho
ABET
Associação Brasileira de Pós-graduação em Saúde Coletiva
ABRASCO
Associação Nacional de Centros de Pós-graduação em Economia
ANPEC
Associação Nacional de Pós-graduação e Pesquisa em Ciências
Sociais
ANPOCS
Associação Nacional de Pós-graduação e Pesquisa em Geografia
ANPEGE
Associação Nacional de Pós-graduação e Pesquisa em
Planejamento Urbano e Regional
ANPUR
Sociedade Brasileira de Cartografia
SBC
Apoio
Federação das Indústrias do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
FIRJAN
Academia Brasileira de Letras
ABL
Conselho Nacional de Pesquisas
CNPq
Financiadora de Estudo Pr J tos
INEP
Institutos Regionais Associados
Companhia do Desenvolvimento do Planalto Central
CODEPLAN (DF)
Empresa Metropolitana de Planejamento da Grande São Paulo S/A
EMPLASA (SP)
Empresa Municipal de Informática e Planejamento S/A
IPLANRIO (RJ)
Fundação Centro de Informações e Dados do Rio de Janeiro
CIDE (RJ)
Fundação de Economia e Estatística
FEE (RS)
Fundação de Planejamento Metropolitano e Regional
METROPLAN (RS)
Fundação Instituto de Planejamento do Ceará
IPLANCE (CE)
Fundação João Pinheiro
FJP (MG)
Fundação Joaquim Nabuco
FUNDAJ (PE)
Fundação Sistema Estadual de Análise de Dados
SEADE (SP)
Instituto Ambiental do Paraná
IAP (PR)
Instituto de Geociências Aplicadas
IGA (MG)
Instituto de Pesquisas Econômicas, Administrativas e Contábeis
IPEAD (MG)
Instituto do Desenvolvimento Econômico Social do Pará
IDESP (PA)
Instituto Geográfico e Cartográfico
IGC (SP)
Instituto de Apoio à Pesquisa e ao Desenvolvimento "Jones dos
Santos Neves"
IJSN (ES)
Instituto Paranaense de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social
IPARDES (PR)
Processamento de Dados do Município de Belo Horizonte S/A
PRODABEL (MG)
Superintendência de Estudos Econômicos e Sociais da Bahia
SEI (BA)
3
Organização
Coordenação Geral
Simon Schwartzman
Comissões de Programa
Confege Confest
César Ajara (IBGE) José A. M. de Carvalho (UFMG)
Denizar Blitzkow (USP) José Márcio Camargo (PUC)
Jorge Marques (UFRJ) Lenildo Fernandes Silva (IBGE)
Lia Osório Machado (UFRJ) Teresa Cristina N. Araújo (IBGE)
Mauro Pereira de Mello (IBGE) Vilmar Faria (CEBRAP)
Speridião Faissol (UERJ) Wilton Bussab (FGV)
Trento Natali Filho (IBGE)
Comissão Organizadora
Secretaria Executiva -Luisa Maria La Croix
Secretaria Geral-Luciana Kanham
Contege, Contest e Simpósio de Inovações
Anna Lucia Barreto de Freitas, Evangelina X.G. de Oliveira,
Jaime Franklin Vidal Araújo, Lilibeth Cardozo R.Ferreira e
Maria Letícia Duarte Warner
Jornada de Cursos -Carmen Feijó
Finanças -Marise Maria Ferreira
Comunicação Social-Micheline Christophe e Carlos Vieira
Programação Visual-Aldo Victoria Filho e
Luiz Gonzaga C. dos Santos
Intra-Estrutura -Maria Helena Neves Pereira de Souza
Atendimento aos Participantes -Cristina Lins
Apoio
Andrea de Carvalho F. Rodrigues, Carlos Alberto dos Santos,
Delfim Teixeira, Evilmerodac D. da Silva, Gilberto Scheid,
Héctor O. Pravaz, Ivan P. Jordão Junior,
José Augusto dos Santos, Julio da Silva, Katia V. Cavalcanti, Lecy Delfim,
Maria Helena de M. Castro, Regina T. Fonseca,
Rita de Cassia Ataualpa SilvC\ Téli (\ aWCluk
Registramos ainda a colaboração d t ,niCO' (fw. eJlf(\[PIII '
reas do IBGE. com seu trabalho. Clrlrril'. ( '.1111' ',I (I', Jldld a
on. oli J.1Ç.IO do prnl' lo (ln lN , N IRO .
.
\
Electoral Rulc~, (;unstitucnC)·I)rc!isun:s. and IJurk UnTrcl 325
Electoral Rules, Constituet""y Pressures. tics, ele~ 0 prospects, ilnd susccplibilit)· to pork-barrel inducements. My objec
and Pork Barrel: Bases of Voting tive is to develop und evaluate an argument linking rhese forces to voting in Bra;l;il's
National Constituent Assembly (ANC) of 1987-1988 and in the administration of
in the Brazilian Congress President Fernando Collor de Mello.
The article .proceeds in four sections. Section I examines Ihe overall perfor
mance of the Brazilian legislature. Section II sketches a theory of legislative voting
based on the nature of BraziPs political institutions with emphasis on the electoral
t
system. Seerion III presents and evaluates a model of voting in the ANC and on a
set of emergenc)' presidential decrees in 1990. Section IV discusses the implica
Barry Ames
tions of the empirical findings.
Washington University, St. Louis
Why is Brazil's legislature extraordinarily aelive In the dlsrrlbulion of pork barrel but I.fsel)' inactive How WELL Do BRAZIL'S DECISION-MAKING INSTITUTIONS WORK?
on nadonal issues? This article explore~ Ihe question b)' iIluminatin, the moli\lltons of congressional
deputies. Emphasizing the effects of open-lilt proportional representatioll and executive dominance Both in the current democratic experiment and in the 1946-1964 period, [he
over resources. I develop a model of legislative vodn, based on thc operation ofOrnWs poUtical insd Brazilian Congress has seldom been able to legislate on issues of national concern.J
ullions. The nalure of deputies' electoral bases, especially Ihe clusterin, oflhelr Supp0rllnd their dom The legislature's weakness was especially visible in 1987-1988, when the Senate
ination of local constituencies, constrain deputies' preferences. Ideological posltlonll maner as well, bUI and the Chamber joined together as the constituent assembly. A 160-page constitu
the socioeconomic charaelerisliC5 of constituenclcs only weakly affect legililadvc voting. Pork-barrel
tion emerged, a constitution that praced ceilings on interest rates and granted life
programs controlled by the president also profoundly Influence deputies' broader voling patterns.
When the mOlivalions of deputies favor deals mallimizini local pork barrel and diseouraBe strcnBthen tenure to bureaucrats but left major issues in health care and education for future
ing parties and responding to broader constituency demands, it tS no lurprise Ihal .he lelislature de.;.' legislatures. The subsequem Congress, to no one's surprise, resolved nothing,
voles Iinle anention 10 national issues. doing liule more than reacting to President Collor's many emergency decrees and.
ultimately, impeaching the president himself.
"Balanced budsels are lhe rhetoric of incompetent polidclans~' Why is the legislature so inactive on substantive policy questions? Actually, a
-Orestes Qpercia, eX-Boverllor of Sio Paulo.' comparison of Brazil's institutions with those of other nations might lead to just the
opposite expectation. The system is presidential, with an open and decentralized
Ideally, the study oflegislatures in formerly authoritarian regimes should be com executive; the electoral system is candidate-centered and decentralized. interest
parative, linking variations in public policy to variations in electoral systems, leg groups are functionally specialized; parties are numerous, weakly organized, inter
islative preferences, internal rules, and executive-legislative relations. Though a nally fragmented. and autonomous from external control; permanent committees
growing body of descriptive literature is beginning to supply (ross-nationally valid parallel the structure of administrative agencies. In a recent comparative project
I
indicators for these concepts, we still need empirical work based on single-country Michael Mezey found all these characteristics linked to grealer legislative activity
studies, studies informed in parI by existing comparative research and in part by (Olsen and Mezey 1991,201-)4). •
the theoretical and empirical American literature.z The policy weakness of Brazil's legislature has three possible causes. The num
This article explores the motivations of members of the Chamber ofDepudes of ber of parties may have reached a level discouraging policy activity. The legisla
the Brazilian Congress. By motivations I mean ideology, constituency characteris- ture's procedural rules could hinder policy making, either deliberately or through
consequences no one anticipated. And finally, deputies may deliberately avoid seri
This research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, WaShington University,
ous policy making, either because their primary interests lie in pork barrel or be
St, Louis. and IRIS-InsIitutionaI Reform and the Inrormal Seclor. at the Unlvtuhy of Maryland,
cause their preference for nonprogrammatic parties leads to a legislature unable to
College Park.
ICiro Gomes, the current governor of Cear'. ~Iaiml that Qlicrcia made Ihis remuk. The Portuguese
is beuer: "Equillbrio finaneeiro 6 con versa de polilico Incompetenle" (Y,ja 1992,9). JSome analYSIS attempting 10 explain the military coup of 1964. notably dO$ Sanlos (l979). have
aSome scholars offer comparisons or IWO or three countries as the best solution to Ihis problem, I slrellsed the legislative immobility of .he Congress at the end of Ihe earlier plurAlist period, but research
believe Ihal most small sample comparisons really hold very liule constant and serve merely as cover for on congressioilld elections or congressional behavior during the 1946-1964 democratic perio~ is scarce.
superficial empirical work. See, however, Benevides (1976. 1981, 1982). Soares (1973), and Souza (1976). On lhe current Congress,
see Figueiredo and Limongi (1994) and Novaes (199-1).
THE JOURNAl. OF POUTICS. Vol. Sl.No. 2, May 1995, Pp.124-41 4Mezey nOle.s , howc\,er. that in two importanl CAses weak parlies led to greater activitv but not
ce'J 11)1)t; bv the Uni"",.ilv nfT. . u,", Pr. ..c _ PORn. . 'RIO Auuin TY'lJl.'Jll_"JIlIQ ----"--- -_.,
aggregate societal demands. It is this third cause. the qut.., ... .,n of motivation, on FIGURE 1
which my inquiry focuses.
THE CONCENTRATED-DOMINANT VOTE OF A LOCAL POLITICIAN
Municipal Vote Share ofS.id Ferreira, PMDB-ParanA
TOWARD A THEORY Ol~ LEGISLATIVE VOTING
I begin with a description of the electoral system and a typology of the spatial
distribution of deputies' voting support. Next, I treat the factors motivadng vote
choices. After linking each factor to indicators tapping an underlyins issue dimen
s
sion. I evaluate the model in a multiple-regression framework.
The Brazilian Electoral Sysltm6
Brazil's federal deputies are elected through a system of open-list proportional
representation. Each state is a single, at-large, multimember district.7 Seats per
state range from eight to 70, with small states overrepresented and large states,
principally Sio Paulo, underrepresented. State parties-states beins meaningful
arenas of political conflict-select candidates in conventions. but parties cannot
refuse to renominate incumbents. Voters may cast their single ballots either for the
party label-in which case their votes merely add to the party's total-or for indi
vidual candidates. Most opt for an individual. Candidate names appear nuwhere
on the ballot; instead, the voter writes in lhe candidate's name or number. The
D'Hondt method determines how many seats each party earnSj the individual or
dering of votes then establishes which candidates receive these sealS. :
Legally, candidates may seek votes everywhere in their states, but in reality ~
zo
many concentrate their campaigns geographically, finding most or their support in
one or more contiguous regions, regions popularly referred to as "electoral strong 10
holds" (reclUlos ele.torais). Why concentrate in a specific area? For diverse reasons: o
the candidates' families have long held power in the region; a party leader sent
[hem to (he area; they appeal to its voters: they make a deal with a local !l0lilic~'
Icader. Whatever the roots of local dominance, ~ther aspirants from the same party, represent the deputies' dom;nanf~ at the municipal level. Now use 11. . to calculate
and perhaps other parties as well, avoid that fortress. Dit the average level of dominance for ,eha,c h deputy across all the municipalities of
Arc there modal patterns of spatial support?8 Two dimensions characterize the state. weighted 6y 'he pertentag, of deputy ~ lotal vot, ,afh municipality con
spalial performance at the state level. First, for every deputy in each municipality, tributes. Deputies with higher weighted averages tend to "dominate" their key mu
consider V; •• deputy i's share of all the votes cast in municipality x. These shares nicipalities; those with lower weishted averages "sharen these municipalities with
other deputies. Thus, "dominance-sharednessn is the first dimension of spatial
51 make no claim to have derived all these hypotheses deductively. They come, rather, from Ihe for support. The second dimension also begins with V;n the deputy's share of the total
mallileralurc on leBislative behavior, from interviews with deputies and staff, from observation uf cam municipal vole. Now, however. consider the spal;al distribution of those munici
paign and legislath'c behavior. and from analysis of committee and Roor amendments. Needless to say.
palities where the deputy does well. These municipalities can be concentr~ted. as
Ihl:re is very liule research on legislatures in eleetoralsyatems like that or Brni' to draw on.
dose or contiguous neishbors, or they can be scattered. Combining the two dimen
"For a more ex":nsive treatment of the electoral SYSlem, particularly Ihe campaisn .tralelics of
dcputies.llce my "Elecloral Slralegy under Open-List Proportional Representadon" (1995). sions yields four spatial patterns, as illustrated in figure 1 through figure 4.
'Slate assembly members are elected in the same districlS as Federal dcputiK. Thus, they are all
e"!cled al largt. Some extraordinary cross-campaiBn alliances result. J. Concentrated-Domina"d Munieipalities. In the classic Brazilian ",eduI lo"
'Since eaeh stale is a sinBle at-Iar,e electoral district, any taxonomy of .patlalsupport mutt charac (bailiwick); a deputy dominates a sroup or contisuous municipalities. Typically,
terize vOling patterns at the level of the whole state. And because individual resubs vary so markedly
such redutos are based on the deputy's local reputation or family tradition. Figure 1
across municipalities, the laxonomy should be based on electoral resulls in the pardeular municipalities t
furnishing the bulk of II deputy's support. for example, reflects the "friends and nei,hbors" quality of the votes garnered by a
329
328 Barry Ames Electoral Rules, Constituency Pressures, and Pork Barrel
FIGURE 3
FIGUUZ
THE CONCENTRATED-SHARED VOTE OF AN ENVIRONMENTALIST THE SCATTERED-SHARED VOTE OF AN EVANGELICAL
PersonallUld Municipal Sharcsof"bio Feldmann. PSDB-Slo Paulo Municipal Vote Share of Malheuslensen. PTD-Paran'
PERSSI-IARE
165
52
39
16
-Al
MUNJSHARE
E:
first-time candidate who had been mayor of a large town in the center of the vote 3.0
cluster. ~ 2.0
1.0
2. Concentrated-shared Municipalities. Some deputies specialize in a particular
voter cohort, e.g.) industrial workers, a cohort stron, in contiguous municipalities. 0.0
In heavily industrialized areas such as greater Sio Paulo, workers are so numerous
that their votes elecl many deputies. A deputy in Slo Paulo might also occupy an
ideological space. In figure 2. a deputy stressing 'lgreenn issues gets two-thirds of The Distribution a"d Evolution ofS pa,ia' PalltrnS
his vote in the city of Sio Paulo, but his share of the municipality's lotal vote is less
R.egional and temporal variations are quite pronounced. uDominantU deputies
than 3%. Only on a small island, where environmental issues are salient, is his
are more common in the traditional Northeast. where boss rule especially in rural
municipal share greater than 10%. t
areas, continues. Deputies in the South and Southeast usually confront candidates
of other parties, and sometimes they battle candidates of their own party, even in
3, Scattered-shared Municipalit;es. Deputies can appeal to voter cohorts that are
rural municipalities. Deputies from the more developed South and Southeast, .
quite cohesive but numerically weak in any single municipality. This type includes
however. have more eonten,rated votes. Indeed, the most concentrated distribu
Japanese~BrazUians (important in Sio Paulo and Parana) and, as figure 3 reveals.
tions are found in Rio Grande do Sui, Paran'. Minas Gerais, and Santa Catarina.'
evangelkos Brazilian Protestants who typically vote for evangelical candidates.
t Candidates in these states often win election with little or no supporr in their states'
capitals, and their political careers typically begin in local politics rather than in
4. Srattered-dominaled Municipalities. Some deputies seek out local leaders
business or the bureaucracy. When they dominate the party vote in thc;ir areas of
willing to trade blocs of votes for pork. This pattern is also characteristic of
deputies who once held state-level bureaucratic jobs (such as state secretary of 'I calculated I measure of 6patill autocorrefatlon (Moranls I) for every candidate in congresslona'
education), jobs with the power to distribute geographically separable goods. elections from 191810 1990. The rankin. of scales ,«ording to the concentration of vote distributions Is
Figure <1 represents a deputy with considerable deal-making skills. based on the averale of succclisful amdldatCi from 1918-1990.
FIOURE4 a doze. . "nies elect deputies. Most have only minimal programs, and few have
much inOuence over their members.lu
A SCATTERED-DoMINANT VOTE DISTRIBUTIOS
Turno\'er is \'ery high. In 1990 only about 40% of the incumbent deputies were
Municipal VOle Share ofJ onival Luc. ... PDC-Bahia reelected for the 1991-1994 term. Of the 60% not returning. about half retired or
stood for olhe,r offices and half were defeated. Turnover rates from both relirement
and defeat are highest in the developed South and Southeast. Their delegations, as
a result, typically han less experience. Why so much turnover? Because mayors
ha\'e more conarol o\'er programs and do nol ha\'e to live in Brasilia, many deputies
opt for executh'e offices, Other deputies switch to bureaucratic jobs as a way of
fauening their clienteles before relurning to elective office. Drazil's high turnover
rates raise a warning flag against the facile assumption (which in part comes from
Ihe astonishing slability of the U.S. I-louse) chal reelection is the primary goal of
elected politicians, For many Brazilian deputies, especially those from poor re
gions. politics is a business. II Because politicians seek to maximize income over a
whole career. they may choose to leave the Chamber, pursuing other avenues of
mobility, only to return later. Expectations of short careers discourage investment
in legislative expertise and encourage concentration on pork. In addition, Brazilian
deputies prefer weak parties. i.e., parties unable to impose disci)lline or minimal
programs (No\'aes 1994).
In large constituencies with fluid bailiwicks, substantial campaign expenditures
70 are the norm. Well-informed observers estimate that in 1990 the average successful
60
candidate spent over US SI million." Since TV and radio time are free, the bulk
511
4U of campaign spending goes to rallies, campaign literature. automobiles, and bribes
30 for local bosses. Most of the money is raised from corporate sources contrib
20
10 uting through their U~a;~'a {/ois, n their hidden accounts. Ahhough the most varied
o corporations contribute to congressional candidates (including multinationals like
Mercedes-Benz), the biggest comributors are prqbably large construction compa
nies; the I!lIJprl!iuir~$, D~p~~d~~t on go'!emment pn~;e~ts f~! the;! 'Ie!,} er.isten~e.
strength, they may be more accountable to local voters, but they are also highly the empreiteiras expect their deputies to pressure ministers to liberate previously
motivated to auract public works projects (Novaes 1994). authorized funds and to sponsor amendments and bills yielding lucrative contracts.
Spatial patterns have changed significantly over the last four eJections (1978-
1990). Though the Northeast still has the highest average level of dominance, it has
VOTING IN THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMUL Y
decreased everywhere, and few deputies enjoy unchallenged preserves of voters.
AND ON COLLOR'S EMERGENCY DECREES
·Concentralion, on the other hand, has grown, with the greatest increases coming
in the states that once were the most scattered. These increases in concemration
Measuritlg Vot;tlg Prefiren(es
make more deputies accountable to local communities, but-as the 12,000 budget
amendments demonstrate-they also' increase deputies' eagerness for pork-barrel Allhough the legislature's inactivity and its reluctance to record votes hinders roll
projects.
call analysis, two sets of votes are available. The first comes from the Constituent
Final Details, Before turning to specific determinants of legislative voting, let us IIIPanies cannollesally prevent their deputies from chansins parties during legislative sessions. and
highlight three pieces of the puzzle: party fragmentation and coherence, turnover, almosl40% oflhe membersoflhe 1986-1990 Chamber aClually did change parlies. I
II In some regions policlcs is a fomily busim:ss. In Bahia 40% of the depuli\:s have a relalive (of the
and campaign expenditures. Given open-list PR, high district magnitudes, and the
same generation or older) holdin, political office. In SAo Paulo only 5% come from poJilical familiel.
absence of a meaningful threshold for attaining seats, it is no surprise that well over "Personal communication wilh David FJeilicher. .
333
332 Darry Ames Electoral Rulr - Constituency Pressures. and Pork Barrel
Assembly of 1987-1988.1l Kim:o (1989) fashioned Ii :ocrics ofissue scales from key rights. Domina~t deputies should also uphold executive power. As dominance in
votes in the ANC. I selected four scales as indicators of basic dimensions creases, deputies are better able to "claim credit" for the pork they deliver t so they .
of voting. I .. The four scales include "support for expanded £ongressional pre work harder at bringing pork home (Shepsle and Weingast 1987). Because in Brazil
rogatives'" "support for expanded executive authority," "statism-weJfarism," and the executive controls most pork-barrel programs. good relations with the president
"support for popular democracy." The second set of votes comes from the same are a must. Moreover, dominant deputies tend to be more senior, so they are around
legislature. When Fernando Collor de Mello assumed power in early 1990, Brazil's long enough to develop good relations. Finally. dominant deputies should be re
economy teetered at the edge of hyperinOation. In short order Collor promulgated luctant to expand congressional authority, because increases in th~ prerogatives of
a series of draconian measures. The most significant and controversial decrees the Congress would weaken the monopoly on access enjoyed by the old guard.
reformed the structure of central government ministries, fixed prices and salaries, Clustered votes make deputies more accountable to voters and less responsive to
established a privatization program, regulated the conduct of civil servants, al local or regional bosses. Face-to-face contact in clustered constituencies is greater,
tered business taxes, eliminated fiscal subsidies, and-the most dramatic of all community organizations participate in campaigns, and deputies' careers are more
sequestered private financial assets. Collor's decrees went to the legislature as likely to be rooted in their core regions. Accountability makes deputies more likely
"medidas provisorias," emergency measures. Though the decrees became law im to promote a legislative agenda; hence, they seek expanded congressional power.
mediately. they would become null if the legislature failed to approve them within Greater accountability, however, also encourages deputies to maximize pork, and
a set time period. Given that the president's party had few congressional seats, pas since the executive plays a central role in pork distribution. we might expect clus
sage depended on the persuasive power of Collor and his legisladve allies. tered deputies to support expanded ext&ul;ve power. In the South, however, public
attitudes were so hostile to President Sarney that deputies were likely to seek re
E).-planalory Variables duced executive authority, even though they might individually try to maintain
links to the president. Clustered vote bases should produce deputies with a popu
Dominance a"d Clusleritlg. How should the spatial distribution of electoral sup list bent; hence they will tend toward c:conomic interventionism and favor the
port, i.e., dominance and clustering, influence deputies' voting? Remember, domi demands of organized labor. Finally, support for popular democracy is likely to be
nant deputies are mostly found in less developed, more rural areas, If we hold the higher among clustered-vote deputies because they rarely depend on deals with
wealth of constituencies constant, we should find that deputies dominating their
local elites.
core municipalities oppose state economic intervention and short-term welfare
measures. Dominance is impossible without the backing of a community'S eco Constituency Attributes. Wealth and industrial development are so highly
nomic elite, and local elites rarely support agrarian reform or expanded workers' correlated that we seek only the overall relationship between these indicators and·
voting. In the political context of the late 1980s, deputies relying on industrial
UTile Chamber lind Se~ate met each morning as Ihe ANC, Ihcn separated each afternoon to conduct
voters should be pro-Congress. anti-executive. and statist-welfarist on economic
normal fegislative business. In all, the ANC held 1,021 vOles. In 550 the losing side cast arlea51 50 ,'ores.
Timothy Power and I constructed an archive with all the contested votes oflhe ANC. Scholars inter issues. At the same time, the control exerted by constituencies over deputies
ested in the archive should contact Power at Louisiana State University.- should depend not merely on the wealth and industrial level of a deputy's voters; it
Ii From Kinzo's (1989) discussion it is unclear whether the groups of votes arc true scales or merely should also depend on the constituency's homogeneity. Imagine two constituencies
indices. I applied standard scale test .. (with the help of David Nixon), retaining only those votes meet with the same mean level of income or industrialization. In one, most municipali
ing scaling criteria. Logit analyses of individual votes arc ,cnerally consistent with regressions based on
ties are near the mean on these characteristicsi in the other, the communities are
the muhivote scales, but these scales are preferable because they minimize the effects of absentee vot
ing and other peculiarities specific to particular votes. I call Kinzo's "Economic Conservatism" scale more diverse. In the more homogeneous constituency, voters' interests are clearer
"Statism-welfarism" because the items really measure willinlness to support government intervention because the municipalities are similar; in a heterogeneous constituency interests are
in the economy and defense of issues championed by unions. I have renamed her "Support for Demo diverse and conflictual.15
cratic Values" scale "Support for Popular Democracy" because a number of its items facilitate class To test the relationship between constituency wealth, the cross-municipal varia-
action lawsuits and direct democracy, while others hinder military Intervention. The Congressional
tion of wealth, and voting behavior, I created dummy variables for deputies with
Power Scale includes nine items, with a typical item requiring the Congress to approve the federal bud
get. The Support for Executive scale includes five items; a typical item gave future presidents a five
year mandate. The State Economic Intervention-Welfarism scale included six items; a eypical item dealt UPer capita income ia a reasonable indicator ofche economic development of an areal unit"but the
with indemnities paid to workers fired unfairly by employers. The Supporc for Popular Democracy concept is more difficult to operationalize when actual voter., rather than a fixed district, define a con
Scale included six items; a typical item permined class action suits. Thc index of President Collor's stituency. I define the per capha income of a given deputy's voters as ehe average per capiea In~ome of
Emergency Decrees included eight items, the most important of which allowed the government to the municipalities in which the deputy received votes, weighted by the percentage of the deputy's total
confiscate, for 18 momhs, a substantial pare of private savings. Further information about the scales is vote received in each municipality. The homoaeneilY of the constituency is defined as the coefficient of
available on request from the author.