Resumo O artigo examina o que determina o papel dos legisladores em comissões quando analisam tratados internacionais. Empregando a Análise Qualitativa Comparativa com um banco de dados original, a investigação cobre o caso do Protocolo de Adesão da Venezuela ao Mercado Comum do Sul e o período no qual passou pelo Congresso Nacional brasileiro. Concluímos que a pertença ou não à coligação que governa se sobrepõe a outros determinantes.

Abstract The article assesses what determines the role played by legislators in committees when analysing international treaties. Employing Qualitative Comparative Analysis with an original dataset, the investigation covers the case of the Protocol of Accession of Venezuela to the Southern Common Market and the period in which it passed through the Brazilian National Congress. We find that belonging or not to the ruling coalition upstages other confounders.

Abstract Why do some agreements take longer to be approved by national legislatures than others? This question motivates this research, which aims to understand how the nature of coalitions influences the time for the approval of international agreements. To this end, the analysis covers all agreements signed within Mercosur between 1995 and 2019 and the internalisation processes in four member states. This study provides insights into which variables define motivation when voting regionalism bills, concluding that the government-opposition cleavage drives the parliamentarians’ behaviour on this topic, with the size of the president’s party being the decisive factor in parliamentary procedures. others research end 199 201 states bills governmentopposition government opposition parliamentarians topic presidents president s procedures 19 20 1 2

Abstract: The article analyses the preference formation of Brazilian legislators in the deliberation of international agreements, through a case study about the Protocol of Accession of Venezuela to Mercosur. We hypothesize that the motivation of Brazilian congresspeople (and of the government itself) are based on immediate interests rather than long term ones. The aim is to contribute with the debate about the role of the National Congress in the decision-making process of foreign policy, verifying that the Legislative seeks to have larger participation in this topic, as an instrument to redistribute the powers at the domestic level.

Resumen: El artículo analiza la formación de preferencias de los parlamentarios brasileños en la deliberación de actos internacionales, por medio de un estudio de caso respecto del Protocolo de Adhesión de Venezuela al Mercosur. Trabajamos como hipótesis del artículo que las motivaciones de los congresistas brasileños (y del propio gobierno) se fundamentaron en intereses más inmediatos que de largo plazo. El objetivo es contribuir al debate sobre el rol del Congreso Nacional en el proceso decisorio de política exterior, verificando que el Legislativo busca tener mayor participación en este tema, como forma de redistribuir los poderes en el nivel doméstico.