The noble deputies speak: Thematic emphasis of the brazilian parliamentarians´ speeches

Abstract

Recognizing the speech as one of the means through which politics materializes, this article aims to answer the following question: the agendas stated by parliamentarians in speeches in the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies are grounded by the government-opposition relationship, in the same way as observed in the decision-making process? To answer this question, the express agenda model was used in order to analyze the content of more than 127,000 statements made by over 2,000 different speakers during more than 15 years of parliamentary ac-tivity in the Chamber of Deputies (1999-2014). Once the emphasis attributed by each legislator to economic and social agendas has been identified, the answer is negative. The conclusions presented enhance the knowledge about parliamentary behavior within the Chamber of Deputies and indicate the influence of other variables on their performance, such as ideology, gender, and popularity.