La profesionalización de las campañas electorales en Brasil(1989-2006)

Resum

This investigation analyses the professionalization of the political campaigns, concretely the impact of the systematic (electoral system, parties system, political culture and the media system) and party�s factors (the origin, the internal organization and leadership) in this professionalization. The main hypothesis is that these factor works as limits on the professionalization level. It is analyzed the main campaigns in the history of presidential elections in Brazil between the years 1989 and 2006, concluding that factors such as a complex of rigid rules applied to the electoral system, specially applying to limit the access to the media, works as a major brake to the increasing professionalization of the campaigns, a situation completely opposed to the role played by a system in which a weak party system or a competitive media system. The political culture interferes directly in the professionalization and the image cult, especially in a system in which clientelism has got so much presence. The parties� faithful results decisive in any campaign organization: mass parties such like PT, in its origins, limited the presence of consultants and centralized the command of the campaign, a way that was not taken by PRN, a real professional party. On the other hand, individual leaderships made it stronger the mentioned professionalization, as they are pretty much the main reference in the party. The investigation offers a proposed index on how to measure the professionalization level of a political campaign, analyzing 25 indicators in each one of the campaigns, resulting in a index that reveals the professional level of each campaign. The indexes registered since 1989 demonstrates a raising level of professionalism in each campaign, sometimes compared to the North-American standard, considered the most professional one.