Political scientist of FGV/EBAPE defends system for coalition of parties of President Dilma?s government

In an interview published on March 9, 2014 by the newspaper Estado de São Paulo, one of the most important in the country, the political scientist and professor at FGV/EBAPE, Carlos Pereira, stated that the model of presidential system based on coalitions adopted in Brazil after democratization has worked. However, in the same interview Pereira argues that, if President Dilma Rousseff faces serious problems in the governing coalition, in particular with its main partner, PMDB, it is because she doesn't know how to properly share power. For the professor, the parties that support the Presidential Palace are under-represented in the ministry. A thorough analysis of the current political situation of the country was published in the paper ?Making Brazil Work: Checking the President in a Multiparty System, authored by Professors Carlos Pereira (EBAPE) and Marcus André Melo (UFPE). The book is available for sale on the website of the publishing house Editora Palgrave.  Pereira explains in an interview to Estadão that the study aimed to oppose itself to the prevailing view that characterizes the combination between the presidential system and party fragmentation as chaotic: The dominant interpretation on party fragmentation is very critical, negative. And, somehow, it has to be. What I try to argue in the book is that, although there are certain problems, there is another face of the issue, with positive aspects which public opinion and many authors usually do not take into account, explains the political scientist at the interview to Estadão. Still in the same publication, Pereira argues that the combination of multi-party with a strong president, together with various control structures, which are able to say ?no? to this president, created conditions to make this institutional model work. The game has become predictable. The election timetable is respected. You have losers who submit themselves to the results. There's no table turning. Today, the Legislature has efficient tools to embarrass the president. We also have an independent judiciary, which has been able to set limits, given the 'Mensalão' trial. This case is a clear example of how regulation institutions in Brazil are working properly. Brazil is the only country in the world that managed to impose judicial losses to a political elite, in this case PT, while this party was still in power. Nowhere else this has ever happened, stated EBAPE's Professor, who is also a researcher at the Center for Politics and Economics of the Public Sector (Cepesp).  Please read the complete article.