Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T14:21:56.713Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Eroding the Clientelist Monopoly: The Subnational Left Turn and Conservative Rule in Northeastern Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Brandon Van Dyck  and
Alfred P. Montero
Brandon Van Dyck
Affiliation:
Lafayette College
Alfred P. Montero
Affiliation:
Carleton College
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Well-financed opposition parties can exert their organizational strength to undercut the territorial advantages of political machines and clientele networks. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, leftist parties in Brazil's Northeast region brought conservative dominance to an end. The Workers' Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores, PT) led this shift, not only garnering regional majorities in presidential elections but also winning multiple governorships and increasing its share of federal and state legislative seats in the region. In contrast to arguments attributing recent electoral shifts in the Northeast to civil society, aggregate growth, and conditional cash transfers, we argue that the territorial expansion of the PT organization played a central role. A spike in party finances between 2001 and 2003 enabled the PT, for the first time, to establish party offices in northeastern municipalities from the top down. Drawing from underutilized data and sources, we show that the PT leadership eroded conservatives' monopoly on rural territory in the Northeast by strategically targeting hundreds of conservative-dominated municipalities and investing resources to stimulate the formation of local offices. The study demonstrates that this top-down territorial targeting produced considerable electoral gains for PT candidates across federal and state races.

Resumo

Resumo

Partidos de oposição com amplos recursos financeiros podem exercer seu poder organizacional para enfraquecer as vantagens territoriais de máquinas políticas e redes clientelistas. Nos anos 2000, partidos de esquerda na região Nordeste do Brasil (NE) puseram fim ao domínio conservador. O Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) liderou essa mudança, obtendo maiorias regionais em eleições presidenciais, ganhando governos estaduais e aumentando a proporção de petistas que representam o nordeste nos diversos níveis do legislativo. Ao contrário de argumentos que atribuem essas mudanças eleitorais à sociedade civil, ao crescimento econômico ou às transferências condicionais de renda, argumentamos que a expansão territorial do PT teve um papel central. Um aumento no orçamento partidário no início dos anos 2000 possibilitou que o PT, pela primeira vez, estabelecesse escritórios partidários em municípios por toda a região nordestina. Com base em dados e fontes pouco explorados, demostramos que o PT corroeu o monopólio conservador do território rural no NE, estrategicamente identificando centenas de municípios dominados por partidos conservadores e investindo recursos para estimular a formação de escritórios locais. O artigo demostra que essa penetração territorial produziu ganhos eleitorais substanciais em eleições federais e estaduais.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 50 , Issue 4 , 2015 , pp. 116 - 138
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 by the Latin American Studies Association

References

Amaral, Oswaldo 2011 “Ainda conectado: O PT e seus vínculos com a sociedade” Opinião Pública 17 (1): 1–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ames, Barry 2001 The Deadlock of Democracy in Brazil: Interests, Identities, and Institutions in Comparative Politics. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, Andrew, Ames, Barry, and Renno, Lucio R. 2006 “Social Context and Voter Volatility in New Democracies: Networks and Neighborhoods in Brazil's 2002 Elections.” American Journal of Political Science 50 (2): 382–399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banco Central do Brasil Various years Boletim Regional do Banco Central do Brasil. Brasília: Banco Central do Brasil.Google Scholar
Bayma, Israel Fernando de Carvalho 2001 “A concentração da propriedade de meios de comunicação e o coronelismo eletrônico no Brasil.” Revista Eletrónica Internacional de Economía de las Tecnologías de la Información y de la Comunicación 3 (3): 140–171.Google Scholar
Borges, André 2011 “The Political Consequences of Center-Led Redistribution in Brazilian Federalism: The Fall of Subnational Party Machines.” Latin American Research Review 46 (3): 21–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castañeda, Jorge 2006 “Latin America's Left Turn.” Foreign Affairs 85 (3): 28–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chubb, Judith 1982 Patronage, Power, and Poverty in Southern Italy. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fenwick, Tracy Beck 2009 “Avoiding Governors: The Success of Bolsa Família.” Latin American Research Review 44 (1): 102–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flores-Macías, Gustavo A. 2012 After Neoliberalism? The Left and Economic Reforms in Latin America. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gans-Morse, Jordan, Mazzuca, Sebastian, and Nichter, Simeon 2010 “Varieties of Clientelism: Machine Politics during Elections.” CDDRL Working Paper no. 119 (October). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law.Google Scholar
Gervasoni, Carlos 2010 “A Rentier Theory of Subnational Regimes: Fiscal Federalism, Democracy, and Authoritarianism in the Argentine Provinces.” World Politics 62 (2): 302–340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, Edward L. 2013 Boundary Control: Subnational Authoritarianism in Federal Democracies. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giraudy, Agustina 2010 “The Politics of Subnational Undemocratic Regime Reproduction in Argentina and Mexico.” Journal of Politics in Latin America 2 ((2)): 53-84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hale, Henry 2006 Why Not Parties in Russia? Democracy, Federalism, and the State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google ScholarPubMed
Handlin, Samuel, and Collier, Ruth Berins 2011 “The Diversity of Left Party Linkages and Competitive Advantages.” In The Resurgence of the Latin American Left, edited by Levitsky, Steven and Roberts, Kenneth M., 139–161. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Hunter, Wendy 2010 The Transformation of the Workers' Party in Brazil, 1989-2009. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunter, Wendy, and Power, Timothy 2007 “Rewarding Lula: Executive Power, Social Policy, and the Brazilian Elections of 2006.” Latin American Politics and Society 49 (1): 1–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keck, Margaret 1992 The Workers' Party and Democratization in Brazil. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
King, Gary, Tomz, Michael, and Wittenberg, Jason 2000 “Making the Most of Statistical Analyses: Improving Interpretation and Presentation.” American Journal of Political Science 44 (2): 341–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lacerda, Alan Daniel Freire de 2002 “O PT e a unidade partidária como problema.” Dados 45 (1): 39–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levitsky, Steven, and Roberts, Kenneth M., eds. 2011 The Resurgence of the Latin American Left. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Lima, Venício A. de 2008 “As concessões de radiodifusão como moeda de barganha política.” Revista Adusp (January): 26–33.Google Scholar
Magaloni, Beatriz, Diaz-Cayeros, Alberto, and Estévez, Federico 2007 “Clientelism and Portfolio Diversification: A Model of Electoral Investment with Applications to Mexico.” In Patrons, Clients, and Policies: Patterns of Democratic Accountability and Political Competition, edited by Kitschelt, Herbert and Wilkinson, Steve I., 182–205. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mainwaring, Scott P. 1999 Rethinking Party Systems in the Third Wave of Democratization: The Case of Brazil. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mainwaring, Scott P., Meneguello, Rachel, and Power, Timothy J. 2000 “Conservative Parties, Democracy, and Economic Reform in Contemporary Brazil.” In Conservative Parties, the Right, and Democracy in Latin America, edited by Middlebrook, Kevin J. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
McMann, Kelly 2006 Economic Autonomy and Democracy: Hybrid Regimes in Russia and Kyrgyzstan. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Medina, Luis Fernando, and Stokes, Susan C. 2007 “Monopoly and Monitoring: An Approach to Political Clientelism.” In Patrons, Clients, and Policies: Patterns of Democratic Accountability and Political Competition, edited by Kitschelt, Herbert and Wilkinson, Steve I., 68–84. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meneguello, Rachel 1989 PT: A formação de um partido, 1979-1982. São Paulo: Paz e Terra.Google Scholar
Montero, Alfred P. 2010 “No Country for Leftists? Clientelist Continuity and the 2006 Vote in the Brazilian Northeast.” Journal of Politics in Latin America 2 (2): 113–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montero, Alfred P. 2012 “A Reversal of Political Fortune: The Transitional Dynamics of Conservative Rule in the Brazilian Northeast.” Latin American Politics and Society 54 (1): 1–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montero, Alfred P. 2014a “Brazil: Explaining the Rise and Decline of the Conservatives.” In The Resilience of the Latin American Right, edited by Luna, Juan Pablo and Kaltwasser, Cristóbal Rovira, 294–318. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Montero, Alfred P. 2014b Brazil: Reversal of Fortune. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Motter, Paulino 1994 “O uso político das concessões das emissoras de rádio e televisão no governo Sarney.” Comunicação e Política 1 (1): 89–116.Google Scholar
Nichter, Simeon 2009 “Declared Choice: Citizen Strategies and Dual Commitment Problems in Clientelism.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, September 3–6.Google Scholar
Nylen, William 1997 “Reconstructing the Workers' Party (PT): Lessons from North-Eastern Brazil.” In The New Politics of Inequality in Latin America: Rethinking Participation and Representation, edited by Chalmers, Douglas, Vilas, Carlos, Hite, Katherine, Martin, Scott, Piester, Kerianne, and Segarra, Monique, 421–446. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Power, Timothy J. 2000 The Political Right in Postauthoritarian Brazil. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Remmer, Karen 2012 “The Rise of Leftist-Populist Government in Latin America: The Roots of Electoral Change.” Comparative Political Studies 45 (8): 947–972.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rennó, Lúcio, and Cabello, Andrea 2011 “As bases do lulismo: A volta do personalismo, realinhamento ideológico ou não alinhamento?” Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais 25, no. 74: 39–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ribeiro, Pedro Floriano 2010 Dos sindicatos ao governo: A organização nacional do PT de 1980 a 2005. São Paulo: Editora da Universidade Federal de São Carlos/FAPESP.Google Scholar
Roberts, Kenneth 2008 “The Mobilization of Opposition to Economic Liberalization.” Annual Review of Political Science 11:327–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Samuels, David 2004 ‘From Socialism to Social Democracy: Party Organization and the Transformation of the Workers’ Party in Brazil.“ Comparative Political Studies 37 (9): 999–1024.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Samuels, David 2008 “A evolução do petismo.” Opinião Pública 14 (2): 302–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, James 1969 “Corruption, Machine Politics, and Political Change.” American Political Science Review 63 (4): 1142–1158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silva, Pedro Luiz Barros, José Carlos de, Souza Braga, and Costa, Vera Lúcia Cabral 2010 “Lula's Administration at a Crossroads: The Difficult Combination of Stability and Development in Brazil.” In Leftist Governments in Latin America: Successes and Shortcomings, edited by Weyland, Kurt, Madrid, Raúl L., and Hunter, Wendy, 124–139. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singer, André 2009 “Raízes sociais e ideológicas do lulismo.” Novos Estudos CEBRAP 85 (November): 83–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singer, André 2010 “A segunda alma do Partido dos Trabalhadores.” Novos Estudos CEBRAP 88 (November): 89–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soares, Gláucio Ary Dillon, and Terron, Sonia Luiza 2008 “Dois Lulas: A geografia eleitoral da reeleição (explorando conceitos, métodos e técnicas de análise geospacial).” Opinião Pública 14 (2): 269–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Dyck, Brandon 2014a “The Paradox of Adversity: New Left Party Survival and Collapse in Latin America.” PhD diss., Harvard University.Google Scholar
Van Dyck, Brandon 2014b “Why Party Organization Still Matters: The Workers' Party in Northeastern Brazil.” Latin American Politics and Society 56 (2): 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Venturi, Gustavo 2010 “PT 30 anos: Crescimento e mudanças na preferência partidária; Impacto nas eleições de 2010.” Perseu 4 (5): 197–214.Google Scholar
Vilaça, Marcos Vinicios, and Roberto Cavalcanti de, Albuquerque 1988 Coronel, Coronéis. 3rd ed. Rio de Janeiro: Tempo Brasileiro/EDUUF.Google Scholar
Weyland, Kurt, Madrid, Raúl, and Hunter, Wendy, eds. 2010 Leftist Governments in Latin America: Successes and Shortcomings. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zucco, Cesar 2008 “The President's ”New“ Constituency: Lula and the Pragmatic Vote in Brazil's 2006 Presidential Elections.” Journal of Latin American Studies 40 (1): 29–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zucco, Cesar, and Samuels, David 2014 “Crafting Mass Partisanship from the Top-Down, at the Grass Roots.” British Journal of Political Science. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0007123413000549.CrossRefGoogle Scholar