ELECTORAL VOLATILITY IN BRAZIL

The study of electoral stability or volatility in Latin America calls attention to profound differences between most Latin American party sy stems, which are quite volatile, and West European party systems, whic h remain comparatively stable notwithstanding a trend toward greater v olatility in recent decades. The examination of Latin American party s ystems poses interesting questions about why they differ so markedly f rom West European systems along this important dimension and what the consequences are for democracy. This paper focuses on volatility in on e country, Brazil, in order to examine these issues. I make four argum ents: that the Brazilian party system was moderately volatile during B razil's first democracy (1946-64); that the party system has been high ly volatile since 1982; that Brazil's volatility is much higher than t hat in the advanced industrial democracies; and finally, that the high volatility of the post-1985 period was caused by a combination of str uctural and institutional factors inimical to strong ties between citi zens, political elites and parties, and further boosted by the dismal economic results of 1987-94.