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Making Brazil Work? Brazilian Coalitional Presidentialism At 30 And Its Post- Lava Jato Prospects, Andrea Scoseria Katz

Scholarship@WashULaw

In 1865, British constitutional theorist Walter Bagehot memorably explained that the success of British government lay in “the efficient secret” of its Constitution, which mandates “the nearly complete fusion” of the Government and a strong, programmatic, and productive Parliament. By this yardstick, it is not a terrible exaggeration to say that the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 harbors a very inefficient secret: a weak legislature, widely accused of opportunism and corruption coupled with a diffuse, weak party system that results in ad hoc, temporary, pork-driven legislative coalitions, and a president with ample powers and responsibility for public administrative outcomes.

For the …