Lawmaking by the Brazilian National Congress: Cooperation, leadership, and impasse between Brazil’s Legislative and Executive branches

Abstract

This article considers the working relationship between Brazil's Legislative and Executive branches. It identifies critical elements in Brazil's lawmaking system and strategic interactions between hierarchical legislative channels (constitutional, complementary, and ordinary) in the context of coalition presidentialism. This model was applied to bills submitted between 1999 and 2006, and generated data that runs counter to the widespread perception of a sharp divide between the agendas of the two branches and the hypothesis of absolute predominance by the Executive. However, the prevailing government coalition predominated in all lawmaking channels. The type of interaction (leadership, cooperation, or impasse) that developed between the branches seems to have been dependent on a particular bill's content.