Governabilidade e presidencialismo de coalizão: o desempenho das alianças partidárias no Governo Dilma

Abstract

This paper discusses the functioning of the so – called coalition presidentialism, notably its efficiency in guaranteeing governability in Brazil, based on the analysis of the performance of relations between Executive and Legislative perceived in the Dilma Government. The characteristics of this system of government and its ability to ensure governability and political stability are controversial and have been subject of discussion in both political and juridical science. With the impeachment process of President Dilma, discussions about political stability resulting from Executive and Legislative relations came to light, in public opinion and in the academy, as the loss of support in Congress was considered to be a determinant factor leading to the deflagration of the process against the President. For this reason, it is appropriate for the juridical science to study the institutional and political arrangement that conditions the relationship between the two powers. For that, the bases on which the Brazilian presidential system is established and the formation of presidential offices through party coalitions are initially presented. Next, the characteristics of the National Congress are discussed, notably the rules of the electoral system that condition its composition and the articulation of interests, as well as the functioning of the legislative process, with the participation of the Executive and the formed coalitions. Finally, the performance statistics of the Dilma government party alliances (2011-2016), the strategies of their formation, the costs of governability and the circumstances that led to the outbreak of presidential impeachment are analyzed in order to understand if the outcome was due, at some extent, to the (in) existence of institutional mechanisms of political stabilization in coalition presidentialism. The methodology used included bibliographical and documentary research, mainly on political science works, regimental norms of legislative houses, data extracted from official publications, and statistics provided by legislative databases of nuclei of study in political science related to the studied period. It can be seen that coalition presidentialism is capable of guaranteeing governability, even in controversial scenarios, and that crises in coalitions stem from its own political dynamics and do not constitute a system failure. The institute of impeachment, despite having been applied for the purpose of resolving a governance crisis, does not prove to be a legally legitimate instrument to do so.