%0 Journal Article
%T Making Sense of an Unstable Legislature: Committee Assignments in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies, 1946每2001 La l車gica de una legislatura inestable: la distribuci車n de comisiones en la C芍mara de Diputados Argentina, 1946-2001
%A Silvina Lilian Danesi
%A Ludovic Rheault
%J Journal of Politics in Latin America
%D 2011
%I German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA)
%X Latin American legislatures have gone largely unstudied, with the functioning of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies prior to the 1980s being an entirely unexplored subject. This paper fills that gap by examining the organization of the Chamber, with particular focus on its standing committee system from 1946 to 2001. We assess the portability of two U.S.-based theoretical approaches to legislative organization by applying them to committee assignments. An original data set of Argentine deputies was constructed and a way of measuring political power in committees was devised for this study. Despite weak democratic governments, military interventions, and changes to the electoral system, we find that ruling parties have consistently influenced the committee system, shaping its structure and securing an over-proportion of their deputies in key committee positions. These results support the applicability of the U.S. originated Cartel Theory of legislative organization to understanding and studying legislatures outside that country. Las legislaturas latinoamericanas no han recibido debida atenci車n. Un caso emblem芍tico es la C芍mara de Diputados Argentina, cuyo funcionamiento previo a los 1980＊s ha sido inexplorado. Este art赤culo persigue llenar ese vac赤o examinando la organizaci車n de su sistema de comisiones permanentes desde 1946 hasta 2001. Para ello, evaluamos la aplicabilidad de dos teor赤as norteamericanas sobre organizaci車n legislativa para analizar la integraci車n de comisiones, creamos una base de datos de diputados argentinos y dise amos una forma de medir su poder pol赤tico en las comisiones. A pesar de la inestabilidad institucional y los cambios de sistema electoral, los resultados demuestran que los partidos que controlaron la C芍mara influenciaron en forma sistem芍tica el sistema de comisiones, cambiando su estructura y asegurando la sobrerrepresentaci車n de sus diputados en cargos clave. El estudio confirma, asimismo, la aplicabilidad de la teor赤a del cartel para estudiar y comprender el funcionamiento de legislaturas fuera de los Estados Unidos.
%K Political Science
%K Area Studies
%K Legislative Politics
%K Argentina
%K institutional development
%K Argentine Chamber of Deputies
%K committee system
%K political parties
%K cartel theory
%K 320
%K 322
%K 324
%K Argentina
%K 1946-2001
%K ciencias pol赤ticas
%K elecciones parliamentarias
%K Argentina
%K desarrollo institucional
%K C芍mara de Diputados de la Argentina
%K sistema de comisiones
%K partidos pol赤ticos
%K teor赤a de cartel
%K Argentina
%K 1946-2001
%U http://hup.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/jpla/article/view/469