Suchergebnisse

Cover -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- List of Tables -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- List of Abbreviations -- Part I. Introduction and Descriptive Background -- 1. Social Communication and Voting Behavior -- 2 Latin American Political Discussion in Comparative Perspective -- Part II. Social Influence and the Vote -- 3. Voter Volatility and Stability in Presidential Campaigns -- 4. Discussion Networks, Campaign Effects, and Vote Choice -- 5. Neighborhoods and Cities as Arenas of Social Influence -- 6. Discussion and the Regionalization of Voter Preferences -- Part III. Implications of a Horizontally Networked World -- 7. Clientelism as the Purchase of Social Influence -- 8. Discussion, Societal Exclusion, and Political Voice -- 9. Conclusion -- Appendix A. Statistical Results -- Appendix B. Measurement of Variables -- Appendix C. Details of Correct-Voting Analyses -- Notes -- References -- Index.

Despite its centrality in current and past political developments, scholars know little about the motivations underlying split-ticket voting in Latin America. We consider the case of Brazil, one of the region's most notorious cases of 'permanent divided government' and split-ticket voting. We find the rate of split-ticket voting to be extremely high in Brazil (nearly 70% of all votes cast), and we conduct analyses that highlight its institutional and individual-level sources. [Copyright Elsevier Ltd.]

In new democracies party systems are often young, so partisan cues and roots in the electorate tend to be weak. The results, in many instances, include volatile campaigns with comparatively high degrees of short‐term preference change among voters. We explore the mechanisms of voter volatility and, more broadly, the ways in which citizens learn about issues and candidates in weak‐party systems. We claim that citizens in such settings rely heavily upon persuasive information gathered from their immediate social contexts. Utilizing a unique panel survey implemented during Brazil's historic 2002 presidential election, we demonstrate the importance of political discussion within social networks and neighborhood context for explaining preference change during election campaigns. We also demonstrate the concrete political consequences of social context by showing how candidate momentum runs can be driven by waves of discussion.

This article examines how institutional change in the use of extraordinary legislation affects delegation of power and unilateral action in new democracies. From 1988 to 2001, Brazilian presidents were able to reissue decrees indefinitely and thus had substantial legislative power. In 2001, Congress amended the constitution so as to restrict the president to a single reissue of each lapsed decree. This reform has had mixed results: although it ended the practice of infinite reissues, it induced Presidents Cardoso and Lula to use more decrees than previous executives had. Presidential agenda power, rather than being reduced, has been sharpened. By analyzing patterns of presidential initiatives from 1995 to 2005, we demonstrate the mixed results of this constitutional reform.