Legislator Success in Fragmented Congresses in Argentina: Plurality Cartels, Minority Presidents, and Lawmaking
Cambridge University Press, 6/16/2014
EAN 9781107065130, ISBN10: 1107065135
Hardcover, 256 pages, 23.5 x 15.7 x 2 cm
Language: English
Plurality-led congresses are among the most pervasive and least studied phenomena in presidential systems around the world. Often conflated with divided government, where an organized opposition controls a majority of seats in congress, plurality-led congresses are characterized by a party with fewer than fifty percent of the seats still in control of the legislative gates. Extensive gatekeeping authority without plenary majorities, this book shows, leads to policy outcomes that are substantially different from those observed in majority-led congresses. Through detailed analyses of legislative success in Argentina and Uruguay, this book explores the determinants of law enactment in fragmented congresses. It describes in detail how the lack of majority support explains legislative success in standing committees, the chamber directorate, and on the plenary floor.
1. Plurality parties, plurality cartels, and legislative success
Part I. Plurality Cartels
2. Party blocs, committee authorities, and plurality cartels
3. A statistical model of legislators' success and productivity
Part II. Legislator Success and the Sequential Organization of the Legislative Process
4. Electoral fragmentation and the effective number of legislative blocs
5. Legislator success and the committee system in Argentina
6. On the plenary floor
special motions, vanishing quorum, and the amendment of the plenary schedule
7. Legislative success in the House
Part III. Beyond Plurality Cartels
8. The determinants of the president's legislative success
9. Plurality-led congresses with limited gatekeeping authority
the House of Representatives in Uruguay
10. Concluding remarks
plurality-led congresses as a research agenda.