Legislator Success in Fragmented Congresses in Argentina
Plurality Cartels, Minority Presidents, and Lawmaking

Through detailed analyses of legislative success in Argentina and Uruguay, this book explores the determinants of law enactment in fragmented congresses.

Ernesto Calvo (Author)

9781107065130, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 16 June 2014

232 pages, 32 b/w illus. 24 tables
23.5 x 15.7 x 2 cm, 0.52 kg

'As Calvo points out, despite the vastness of the literature on the American Congress there is only a limited amount of variation over time in partisan configurations, electoral linkages, and legislative rules. In this wonderful book, he explores in Argentina and Uruguay the theoretical relevance and empirical consequences of a circumstance unknown to Congress: plurality control of the legislature. In the process he shatters a host of misconceptions about that circumstance and takes a leading role in a recent renaissance of comparative legislative research on Latin America.' David W. Rohde, Duke University, North Carolina

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.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB], Politics & government [JP]