Brazilian Worker's Party System - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... According to Borges (2011), the Brazilian party system has always been associated with clientelism; hence, today, the country has a more stable party system. However, the two parties that seem to overrule the rest during presidential elections are the worker’s party (PT) and the party of Brazilian social democracy (PSDB). Hence, according to Love (2009, pp 38), during the times of President Lula, the Brazilian politicians were known to bribe citizens in poor regions by offering them pork so that they could vote for them; cash handout was also common during polling. Some of the political parties also created a client group, whose aim was to vote for a certain party. According to Mainwaring (1999 pp 5), “parties have weak roots in society and limited legitimacy and exercise little influence over congressional representatives.” He adds that Brazil has severally reshaped and dissolved party systems formation as follows, in 1889, 1930, 1937, 1965 and 1979. Moreover, Mainwaring (1997 pp 8) notes that the Brazilian political systems are less disciplined compared to the American political parties. Further, “instability, fragility, fragmentation, non-differentiation, lack of cohesiveness and representativeness are the words to describe political parties in Brazil” (Kinzo, 1993, pp 139). This is due to lack of democracy in any party in the country in the earlier years.Rules have also been put in place; however, these rules tend to favor parties that are undisciplined, decentralized, and individualistic. In addition, the author describes the weak parties as a hindrance to popular representation in politics, thus sustaining elicit politics. Politicians were hence seen as the main drive to represent their parties. However, the weak parties disadvantaged the establishment of accountability through parties; for instance, the weaknesses of some political parties interfered with leadership in Brazil (Mainwaring, 1999, pp 6). According to Mainwaring (1997 pp 3), party discipline is essential in any political system since it influences how well the legislatures and executives function and interact. When parties are undisciplined, there is a high possibility of the government to be unstable and ineffective, and interferes with the ...Download file to see next pagesRead More