ResumoEste artigo investiga a dinâmica de controle político entre Executivo e Legislativo sob o presidencialismo de coalizão no Brasil, com foco nos efeitos da delegação das tarefas de governo para o gabinete multipartidário. Argumentamos que as chances de controle horizontal, relativo ao monitoramento mútuo entre os partidos da coalizão, variam de acordo com o partido, o gabinete ministerial e as características das comissões parlamentares. O referente empírico da análise corresponde aos gabinetes presidenciais no Brasil no período de 1995 a 2010. Os resultados demonstram que a capacidade de controle horizontal de uma área de política pelo partido ministerial está relacionada à área temática considerada, às características da coalizão governante e aos partidos que ocupam os ministérios.

AbstractThis article investigates the dynamics of political control between the Executive and Legislative in coalition governments, focusing on the effects of tasks delegation to the parties of multiparty cabinet government. We argue that the chances of horizontal control based on monitoring of mutual coalition parties vary according to the party, cabinet and characteristics of parliamentary committees. The empirical reference of the analysis corresponds to the presidential cabinets in Brazil in the period from 1995 to 2010. Results demonstrate that the ability of horizontal control over a policy area by the ministerial party is related to the subject area considered, to the characteristics of the governing coalition and to the parties that occupy the ministries.

This paper focuses on the evolution of the institutional presidency – meaning the cluster of agencies that directly support the chief of the executive – in Argentina and Brazil since their redemocratization in the 1980s. It investigates what explains the changes that have come about regarding the size of the institutional presidency and the types of agency that form it. Following the specialized literature, we argue that the growth of the institutional presidency is connected to developments occurring in the larger political system – that is, to the political challenges that the various presidents of the two countries have faced. Presidents adjust the format and mandate of the different agencies under their authority so as to better manage their relations with the political environment. In particular, we argue that the type of government (coalition or single-party) has had consequences for the structure of the presidency or, in other words, that different cabinet structures pose different challenges to presidents. This factor has not played a significant role in presidency-related studies until now, which have hitherto mostly been based on the case of the United States. Our empirical references, the presidencies of Argentina and Brazil, typical cases of coalitional as well as single-party presidentialism respectively allow us to show the impact of the type of government on the number and type of presidential agencies.