Author:

Daniel Máximo Góes de Lima

Abstract:

This paper aims to analyse the role of pressure groups in the outcome of the impeachment process that culminated in the prepone ending of former president Dilma Rousseff’s secondterm. To do so, firstly we approach the Brazilian political crisis that took place between 2015 and 2016 by revisiting academic literature and, then, carrying out a case study about it. Afterwards, we define “lobby” as a set of activities done by interested groups that intend to influence upon the decision-making process in public institutions. Then we examine how these activities were perfomed during the impeachment crisis and the major riots against Workers’Party government. Finally, in order to measure the pressure exerted by those groups, we gathered data regarding variables we expect to explain it, such as campaign private donators and parliamentary groups legislators participated in during Brazilian 55th legislature. It is worth saying that those were the ones in charge of judging the allegations made against Rousseff. Our variables were selected based on an understanding that they are mechanisms to institutionalize private interests, which are capable of exert influence over legislative behavior. The information contained in our database were collected directly from the Brazilian House of Representatives’, Senate’s and Superior Electoral Court’s websites, and the online monitoring platform Atlas Político.