Federalism and the Limits of Presidential Authority: Legislative Behavior of Argentine and Brazilian Senators in Comparative Perspective

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26885124
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Politics
• Research Institution: Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization
• Principal Investigator: Kikuchi Hirokazu 独立行政法人日本貿易振興機構アジア経済研究所, 地域研究センターラテンアメリカ研究グループ, 研究員 (80735374)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-08-29 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 議会研究 / 二院制 / 連邦制 / 中央―地方関係 / 立法過程 / アルゼンチン / ブラジル

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Focusing on the federal upper chamber, which represents the interests of subnational units, this research project aimed at unpacking the influence of subnational politics over the national executive-legislative relations. Through a comparative analysis of quantitative data and qualitative information of the upper chambers of Argentina and Brazil, two federal countries in Latin America, I pointed out that a common feature of the two chambers is that senators who have an experience of serving for the presidency or governorship prioritize defending their provinces' interests, and that this argument is consistent with findings of roll-call analyses. By contrast, the two chambers are different in terms of institutional characteristics of the legislative process as well as the influence of incumbent governors over senatorial behavior.

Free Research Field

比較政治学、ラテンアメリカ政治