Political parties and representation: the political parties' impact on the structuring of the voters' choice in BraZil

Abstract

The project aims at examing the Brazilian political parties in the electoral arena. It will evaluate the extent to which they have organized themselves in order to get the voters' support and as a consequence have served as instruments for the structuring of the electoral competition. Three dimensions will be studied: a) organization, which will deal with the parties as political organization acting within the electoral context; b) ideological, which will examine the intra and inter-party ideological differentiation that can be apprehend from the opinions and positions of the representantives at the State Assemblies; and c) behavioral/attitudinal, which will focus on the relationship between parties and voters so as to verify the extent to which the parties have been able to build their image among the voters. (AU)