This article offers an explanation for the intensity of redistributive policies from Latin American leftist governments during the so-called 'left turn'. It challenges the idea that the recent radical leftist governments are the product of region-specific characteristics. Based on theoretical models that analyze the implications of inequality in democracies and the moderating effects of different economic and institutional structures, it argues instead that the left's redistributive policies were more intense in countries where capital mobility is low and there was no pro-elite legislative veto player. To evaluate this explanation, we offer original evidence from time-series -cross-section regression models of social spending, based on data from thirteen Latin American countries over the years 2003 to 2015. The results show partial support for the explanation: there is strong evidence that social spending decreased with the ideological distance between the president and the pro-elite veto player, but only weak evidence that capital mobility attenuated this effect.

Resumo O artigo analisa a representação política local, focando as percepções e práticas cotidianas dos vereadores. Em particular, analisam-se suas escolhas entre estratégias de representação clientelistas e universalistas. Utilizam-se dados originais de entrevistas abertas semiestruturadas com amostra não representativa de 112 vereadores de 12 municípios de Minas Gerais. Por meio de análise qualitativa, classificam-se os vereadores em três tipos, de acordo com sua principal estratégia de representação, a saber: “legislador”, que se dedica mais às funções formais da vereança; “captador”, que prioriza o atendimento de pedidos coletivos dos eleitores; “assistencialista”, que prioriza o atendimento de pedidos particulares. Com base na literatura teórica sobre clientelismo, oferecem-se hipóteses explicativas das estratégias de representação dos vereadores, que são testadas estatisticamente utilizando-se um modelo probit multinomial. Os resultados sugerem que essas estratégias são qualitativamente distintas e que a probabilidade de ocorrência do tipo assistencialista é maior em municípios pequenos, crescente no acirramento da competição política e decrescente na volatilidade eleitoral. Também há evidência fraca de que essa probabilidade é decrescente na escolaridade do vereador e crescente no seu tempo de vereança.

Abstract The article analyzes political representation at the local level, focusing on the perceptions and everyday practices of councilmembers, particularly their choices between clientelistic and universalist representation strategies. It makes use of original data from semi-structured open interviews with a non-representative sample of 112 councilmembers from twelve municipalities of Minas Gerais, Brazil. By means of qualitative analysis, respondents were classified according to three types, according to their main representation strategy: “legislator”, who is more dedicated to the office's formal functions; “fundseeker”, who prioritizes the servicing of voters’ requests of a collective nature; and the paternalist, who prioritizes servicing requests of a private nature. Based on the theoretical literature on clientelism, it offers explanatory hypotheses about councilmembers’ representation strategies, which are tested statistically using a multinomial probit model. The results suggest that these strategies are qualitatively distinct and that the probability of observing the paternalist type is higher in small municipalities, increasing on the sharpening of political competition and decreasing on electoral volatility. There is also weak evidence that this probability decreases with the councilmember's years of schooling and her time in office.

This article analyzes which factors determine rapporteurship allocation for reviewing bills of law submitted by the Brazilian Executive Branch to the Chamber of Deputies. We argue that the rapporteurs' influence lies in their position as informational agents in the preliminary review committees. Based on this theoretical proposition, we identify the reasons why the first term of the Cardoso Administration witnessed a non-negligible number of rapporteurs from the minority opposition who were designated to report on bills submitted by the Executive. The hypotheses are tested through a statistical model that estimates the number of reports on Executive bills each Deputy obtained during the 1995-98 Legislature by using original data on the characteristics of the Deputies, their parties, and the committees to which they belonged.

Dans cet article, on analyse ce qui détermine la sélection des rapporteurs qui devront examiner des projets issus du pouvoir exécutif à la Chambre des Députés. On soutient que l'influence du rapporteur réside dans sa condition d'agent informationnel des commissions jugeant le mérite. À partir de cette proposition théorique, on repère la raison pour laquelle, pendant le premier gouvernement de Fernando Henrique Cardoso, on a nommé un nombre non négligeable de députés de l'opposition minoritaire pour rapporter des projets du pouvoir exécutif. Le test des hypothèses est fait à l'aide du modèle statistique qui estime le nombre de rapports de projets du pouvoir exécutif obtenus par chaque député pendant la législature 1995-1998, à partir de données d'origine concernant les caractéristiques des députés, leurs partis et les commissions auxquelles ils ont participé.

This article analyzes which factors determine rapporteurship allocation for reviewing bills of law submitted by the Brazilian Executive Branch to the Chamber of Deputies. We argue that the rapporteurs' influence lies in their position as informational agents in the preliminary review committees. Based on this theoretical proposition, we identify the reasons why the first term of the Cardoso Administration witnessed a non-negligible number of rapporteurs from the minority opposition who were designated to report on bills submitted by the Executive. The hypotheses are tested through a statistical model that estimates the number of reports on Executive bills each Deputy obtained during the 1995-98 Legislature by using original data on the characteristics of the Deputies, their parties, and the committees to which they belonged.

Dans cet article, on analyse ce qui détermine la sélection des rapporteurs qui devront examiner des projets issus du pouvoir exécutif à la Chambre des Députés. On soutient que l'influence du rapporteur réside dans sa condition d'agent informationnel des commissions jugeant le mérite. À partir de cette proposition théorique, on repère la raison pour laquelle, pendant le premier gouvernement de Fernando Henrique Cardoso, on a nommé un nombre non négligeable de députés de l'opposition minoritaire pour rapporter des projets du pouvoir exécutif. Le test des hypothèses est fait à l'aide du modèle statistique qui estime le nombre de rapports de projets du pouvoir exécutif obtenus par chaque député pendant la législature 1995-1998, à partir de données d'origine concernant les caractéristiques des députés, leurs partis et les commissions auxquelles ils ont participé.