Government and Opposition in Legislative Speechmaking: Using Text-As-Data to Estimate Brazilian Political Parties' Policy Positions

Author(s)

Izumi, Mauricio Y. ^[1] ; Medeiros, Danilo B. ^[2]

Affiliation

^[1] Fed Univ Espirito Santo UFES, Vitoria, ES - Brazil

^[2] Brazilian Ctr Anal & Planning CEBRAP, Sao Paulo - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: LATIN AMERICAN POLITICS AND SOCIETY; v. 63, n. 1, p. 145-164, FEB 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

This research note explores whether the government-opposition dimension that emerges from voting records of Brazilian legislatures also arises in legislative speechmaking. Since the earlier stages of the legislative process are innocuous to policy outcomes, party leaders would have fewer incentives to coerce their copartisans' behavior in speeches than in roll calls. To test this expectation, this study estimates Brazilian political parties' policy positions, relying on a sentiment analysis approach to classify 64,000 senators' speeches. The results suggest that the president and the party leadership exert signi?cant influence not only over how legislators vote but also over how they speak. We speculate that these unforeseen ?ndings are backed by the decisiveness of speeches in passing legislation, the importance leadership gives to party brand, and legislators' need to signal their positions to leaders and the government. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 19/24091-1 - Political representation and legislative polarization in Brazil
• Grantee: Danilo Buscatto Medeiros
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 18/08118-4 - Electoral typologies: an analysis of spatio-temporal patterns in proportional elections in Brazil
• Grantee: Maurício Yoshida Izumi
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral