Ambiguities and contradictions in alignment theory
ambiguidades e contradições na teoria do realinhamento
Keywords:
Electoral Realignment, Lulismo, Partisan Identification, André Singer, ElectionsAbstract
The realignment theory is gaining strength as an explanatory key in the understanding of the electoral developments recently occurred in Brazil. The phenomenon, emerged in the post electoral period after the election of Lula in 2006, expresses the idea of a conversion of a block of voters, determining a long-term agenda from which not even the opposition manages to escape. However, when one considers such theory in the American literature in comparison with its Brazilian version, it is possible to conclude that the last presents a reductionist scope in which the main drivers are not sufficiently contemplated – the notions of durability, critical events, and party identification. In face of such evidence, the article concludes that, in the Brazilian case, the electoral realignment is a phenomenon related to a particular historical moment in which voters were organized around deep party identifications. The more general Brazilian political setting, however, with high rates of electoral volatility and low party roots, does not seem to be suited to an analysis based in such theoretical approach.Keywords: Electoral realignment; Lulismo; Partisan identification; André Singer; Elections.
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