Floor Speeches Thematic Competition: From Economic to the Social Agenda.

• In Event: New Data New Approaches: Political Science in Brazil Today

Abstract

As the main opposition parties in the Brazilian presidential elections from 1994 to 2014, how can we distinguish PT and PSDB federal deputies floor speeches thematic emphases? In order to answer this question, the express agenda model was used to analyze the content of more than 127,000 floor speeches made by more than 2,000 different speakers during more than 15 years of parliamentary activity in the Chamber of Deputies (1999-2014). With robust evidence on the thematic emphasis of each Brazilian federal deputy, the expressed agenda of PT and PSDB dedication to economic and social areas was analyzed. The main conclusion is that from 1994 to 2014 PSDB deputies changed their speeches from an economic emphasis to focus on the social agenda.

Author

• Davi Moreira, Federal University of Pernambuco