Government and Opposition in Legislative Speechmaking: Using Text-As-Data to Estimate Brazilian Political Parties’ Policy Positions

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Mauricio Y. Izumi ◽  
Danilo B. Medeiros
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Sentiment Analysis ◽  
Significant Influence ◽  
Analysis Approach ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Party Leadership ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
The Government

ABSTRACT This research note explores whether the government-opposition dimension that emerges from voting records of Brazilian legislatures also arises in legislative speechmaking. Since the earlier stages of the legislative process are innocuous to policy outcomes, party leaders would have fewer incentives to coerce their copartisans’ behavior in speeches than in roll calls. To test this expectation, this study estimates Brazilian political parties’ policy positions, relying on a sentiment analysis approach to classify 64,000 senators’ speeches. The results suggest that the president and the party leadership exert significant influence not only over how legislators vote but also over how they speak. We speculate that these unforeseen findings are backed by the decisiveness of speeches in passing legislation, the importance leadership gives to party brand, and legislators’ need to signal their positions to leaders and the government.

Autonomy of Standing Committees in the Chilean Senate

1970 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-50
Author(s):  
Weston H. Agor
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Party ◽  
The United States ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Party Leadership ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Congressional Committees

One of the most provocative statements in Jewell and Patterson's recent textbook on the American legislative process is that there is an inherent contradiction between political party and committee leadership. They posit: ‘Where committees are strong and independent, party leadership is weak. Where party leadership is strong, the committees are either weak or simply agents of the party leaders.’ As an example, the authors argue that congressional committees in the United States are strong, proud and independent, whereas the leadership of political parties is comparatively weak. This independence is based in part on the fact that chairmen of committees are selected by seniority and traditionally have not been removed by party leaders. Party lines are often crossed in the voting within committee, and chairmen have considerable say over whether a bill will be reported out or not.

Agree or disagree

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeynep Somer-Topcu
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Change ◽  
Party Leadership ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Parliamentary Democracies ◽  
Party Positions ◽  
Leadership Changes ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The One ◽  
Party Policy Positions

Political party leaders are among the most influential actors in parliamentary democracies, and a change in party leadership is an important event for a party organization. Yet, we do not know how these leadership changes affect voter perceptions about party policy positions. On the one hand, we may expect party leadership changes to renew attention to the party, educate voters about its policy positions, and hence reduce disagreement among voters about party positions. On the other hand, rival parties may use a leadership change as an opportunity to defame the party, its leadership, and policies, and hence, increase voter confusion about the party’s policies. Using data from seven Western European democracies, I show that leadership changes help parties reduce voter disagreement about party policy positions. This effect is stronger if the new leader shifts the party’s policy positions.

scholarly journals Policy Representation by Party Leaders and Followers: What Drives UK Prime Minister’s Questions?

2015 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaun Bevan ◽  
Peter John
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
Agenda Building ◽  
Party Leadership ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Policy Representation ◽  
Leaders And Followers ◽  
The Government

This article demonstrates how party leaders (frontbenchers) and backbenchers use their access to UK Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) to represent the policy agenda. Building on comparative research on parliamentary questions and agenda-setting as well as taking account of the particular context of PMQs, we argue that party leaders and followers draw attention to different kinds of policy topics with the express purpose of influencing the government. Based on a content analysis of over 9,000 questions between 1997 and 2008, we demonstrate how the posing of questions affects subsequent agenda, varying according to whether questions come from the front or backbench, from government and opposition and from different parties. The findings demonstrate that PMQs helps both the opposition and backbenchers draw attention to issues that the government and opposition party leadership does not always wish to attend to.

De (on)macht van de Eerste Minister : Een a-wetenschappelijke ervaringsbenadering

Res Publica ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-32
Author(s):  
Jean-Luc Dehaene
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Common Law ◽  
The Political ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Coalition Governments ◽  
Profound Knowledge ◽  
Key Skills ◽  
The Government ◽  
First Time

The position of the Belgian prime minister (PM) is hardly mentioned in the Belgian Constitution. lt was only after almost 140 years, in 1970 he was mentioned for the first time. lts power is rather a matter of common law. Since 1831 through the years, the position and power of the PM changed strongly. This often happened together with changes concerning the power of the King: the weaker the King, the stronger the PM.The existence of coalition governments puts forward bis role as coordinator and even as arbitrator, whereas the federalisation process since the seventies places him as a conciliator between Regions and Communities. The growing importance of the European Council of Head of States have made him the most important decision-maker among the national politicians in the European integration process. The PM's skills concerning timing and agendasetting are very important because it is one of his most important power instruments. Other key skills are bis profound knowledge in certain issues but mostly as a generalist, his insisting on good minister nominations by the party leaders, the way he can motivate his cabinet members, a good team spirit among the government members and the existence of a clear government contract. In order to avoid a strongdependency on or tutelage from the political parties of the majority it is important to have their top politicians in the government.

U.S. State Legislative Committee Assignments and Encouragement of Party Loyalty: An Exploratory Analysis

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 284-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Kanthak
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
Exploratory Analysis ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Legislative Behavior ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Party Loyalty ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Committee Assignments ◽  
State Legislative

Although political parties in U.S. legislatures cannot compel discipline with the threat of expulsion from the legislature, they can encourage greater party loyalty by strategically bestowing benefits upon favored members. This article explores the use of plum committee assignments to encourage legislators' loyalty to their parties. I outline a theory of how party leaders can use committee assignments strategically to encourage more loyal legislative behavior. This occurs when legislative rules meet two criteria: (1) parties and their leaders can determine who serves on committees and (2) committees have real authority over policy outcomes. I test the theory using data from five state legislatures that differ on the relevant set of legislative rules, finding more party loyalty shown by legislators who receive plum committee assignments when rules meet both criteria and no effect when they do not.

scholarly journals Politics of alliances and its effects during Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's rule in Pakistan

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-104
Author(s):  
Ulfat Zahra ◽  
Javed Iqbal
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Martial Law ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Political Alliances ◽  
Political Events ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government ◽  
National Alliance

The paper mainly focuses on political alliances during the rule of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. This study is based on the opposition’s struggle in the form of political alliances to counter Bhutto's absolute power. The period thus saw the emergence of opposition alliances such as the United Democratic Front, the Pakistan National Alliance to organize resistance against Bhutto’s rule. However, this trend has not been limited to opposition’s alliances only. At times, the government joined hands with the opposition and major parties to achieve an agreed objective. In this study, a descriptive analysis is employed to cover the main theoretical and political formations of accords between the opposition and the ruling party. These unnatural alliances between political parties had immense effects on the future political scenario of Pakistan. It has also been observed that the opposition’s alliances, left behind their imprints on the history of Pakistan leading to the imposition of martial law in 1977 and changing the course of political events ever since. The findings will demonstrate that the political parties were engaged in a struggle for the preservation of the personal ambitions of party leaders. If they tackle the situation with harmony, a firm democracy can establish in Pakistan.

Turnout Rates in Closed Party Leadership Primaries: Flash and Fade Out?

2014 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bram Wauters
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Motivation Theory ◽  
Participation Rates ◽  
Party Leadership ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Mobilization Theory ◽  
Party Members ◽  
First Time ◽  
Selection Of

The organization of primaries in which all party members can participate is increasingly used by political parties to select their leader. We focus here on one of the consequences of these procedures – participation rates. Based on general participation theories (mobilization theory, instrumental motivation theory and learning theory) in combination with insights into the introduction and functioning of leadership primaries, we expect that the first time a party organizes leadership primaries, participation rates will be high, but that they will decline gradually afterwards. We have focused on direct member votes for the selection of party leaders in Belgium, Israel and Canada. Our results show that participation rates are not influenced by how many times such a contest is held in a party (only first-time participation tends to be higher), but mainly by how competitive the contest is.

The Struggle for Recognition: The Politics of Migrant Care Worker Policies in Taiwan

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 1147-1161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi-Chun Chien
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Political Context ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Political Alliances ◽  
The Government ◽  
Care Worker

This article investigates how local political context—including civil society and political parties—influences the development of migrant care worker policies in Taiwan. This is particularly important in a national context where the government has actively utilized migrant care worker policies to solve the crisis in the social welfare sector. This article draws upon documentary analysis of policy debates on the proposed implementation of Long-Term Care Insurance and in-depth interviews with government officials, public service providers and non-governmental organizations to explore how the political alliances of political parties, social organizations, and interest groups affect policy outcomes. While current research focuses on the relationship between social welfare policies and the employment of migrant care workers, this article highlights the local political context and explores how political alliances have influenced the development of migrant care worker policies. This article argues that institutional path dependency and the strong policy alliance between the progressive party and social welfare organizations have stymied changes in migrant care worker policies and prevented Taiwan from further socializing the eldercare sector.

Personal leaders and party change: Italy in comparative perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fortunato Musella
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
The United States ◽  
Party Change ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Party Leadership ◽  
New Parties ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
New Procedures ◽  
Selection Of

IntroduzioneParty leaders have become more powerful and autonomous actors in recent years by developing a direct and personal relationship with citizens. As anticipated in the United States (Lowi, 1985), the rise of the ‘personal leader’ seems to have occurred in many European democracies, both in old parties and in more recently formed parties, with a widespread tendency for them to be promoted and controlled by individual leaders. Nevertheless, party leadership remains quite a neglected theme in political science. Through a data set including ~500 party presidents in 13 democracies, this article focusses on the personalization of party leadership by comparing Italy with other Western countries. More particularly, new procedures for the selection of party chairs, the centralization of power in political parties, and the new role of party leaders in the legislative/governmental arena are analysed, given their importance to such a process. The article summarizes new data on the party leaders’ characteristics, with regards to their political backgrounds, how they are elected, how long they stay in office, and whether they become prime minister or enter the executive. In this way, we are able to see how some new parties are created from the outset as highly personalized and centralized parties (Forza Italia being the paradigmatic case), whereas other older parties have also evolved in a personalized direction.

The Influence of the President and Government Coalition on Roll-Call Voting in Brazil, 2003–2006

2020 ◽  
pp. 147892992090458
Author(s):  
Tsung-han Tsai
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Essential Feature ◽  
Ideal Point ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Spatial Voting ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
The Government

In Brazil’s legislative process, political exchanges between the government and legislature is an essential feature. This article focuses on the role of the president and political parties in Brazil’s national legislative process. Because nonideological factors influence voting, roll calls do not suffice for estimation of legislators’ policy preferences. In this article, we derive a spatial model of voting in which voting behavior is induced by both ideological motivations and coalition dynamics and develop a multilevel ideal-point model implied by the spatial voting model. After the proposed model is applied to the analysis of roll-call votes in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies between 2003 and 2006, coalition dynamics is found to influence the voting behavior of legislators. We also confirm the finding in previous studies that the ideological alignment of political parties in the legislature contrasts with the perceived positions.

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