The Ideological Positions of the Worker s Party and of the Brazilian Social- Democracy Party: An analysis of 2014 Political Parties Programs 1

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1 The Ideological Positions of the Worker s Party and of the Brazilian Social- Democracy Party: An analysis of 2014 Political Parties Programs 1 Introduction This text is part of a research that aims to contribute towards a better knowledge of the Brazilian political parties ideology. (Lucas & Samuels, 2011; Mainwaring, Meneguello & Power, 2000; Melo & Câmara, 2012; Tarouco, 2010; Power & Zucco, 2008). The objective is to analyze the main forces that emerged in the political national context by the end of the 1970s, and therefore positioning them in an ideological scale 2 whose main reference remains in the social democracy concept. The effort envisage the observation of all parties that had achieved more than 5% of the votes in direct National Executive elections, considering all elections held in the New Republic. 3 With this, it is expected to detect the strategic positioning of the parties in accordance with scale values, but above all, their moves. It means to observe the ideological transformation process of each different party in each electoral situation. As regards methodology, we will apply the approach of the Comparative Manifesto Project (CMP), whose purpose is to codify and quantify the pragmatic measures proposed by the parties in their Government Programs. It will allow us to build comparative conclusions based on a strong empirical basis that will count on combined programs qualitative analysis and the scrutiny of available bibliography about Brazilian political parties. This task will be realized in a segmented and anachronistic manner once we will start by analyzing recently electoral processes. Therefore, the present paper will observe only the strategic position of two parties - the Worker s Party (PT) and the Brazilian Social-Democracy Party (PSDB) - in 2014 elections. The choice of 1 Authors: Ana Rita Ferreira, Universidade da Beira Interior; Mayra Goulart, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro; Alessandra Maia Terra de Faria, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro; Vladimyr Lombardo Jorge, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro; Hugo Duarte e Guilherme Carriço, Universidade da Beira Interior. 2 As consolidated by Anthony Downs definition (1999), this scale can be schematized as a continuum that spreads since the economy total control by the Govern (left wing) to the completely free market (right wing). 3 Period that started by the end of military dictatorship. It corresponds to the Sixth Brazilian Republic, to see more information: 1

2 reference object obeys to pragmatic criteria, once that from the seven presidential elections that took place since 1988, date of the enactment of the Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil (CFB), only the first one (1989) did not count on a victory of one among the two parties considered PSDB was the winner in 1994 and 1998 and PT won in 2002, 2006, 2010 and In other words, this paper aims to answer the following question: What is the positioning of PT and PSDB in a left-right wing scale in the election of 2014? The hypothesis of departure places PT in the centre-left and PSDB in the centre-right. The text will be organized in three parts. First, it will be presented the methodology of the Comparative Manifesto Project. In the second part, we will discuss with the literature that argues its relevance as a valid instrument to identify the ideological positioning of parties, especially in regard to the Brazilian case. In the third and last part, we will discuss about the results observed from both parties codifications, presenting them individually first, and then, in a comparative way. At the end, we will sketch the outline of conclusions obtained from this comparison. First Part Comparative Manifesto Project (CMP) 1.1 Explaining the Method In this comparative study we resorted to the Comparative Manifesto Project s coding, an international project with the purpose of examining all the programmatic measures presented on the manifestos from relevant political parties running for legislative elections (relevant parties are the ones who obtain political representation) and considering presidential systems, from candidates that run to presidential elections (candidates with more than 5% of the voting). This coding allows us to compare the several manifestos from the several parties in the same election and, like this, to conclude about the ideological positioning of each one of them facing the others as it allows us to compare the various manifestos of one party alone over time, in diversified elections and, ultimately, assert about the ideological evolution of that same party. By the way, this coding even grants us the possibility to produce other comparative studies: such as between parties of the 2

3 same political family, but from different countries in way to understand the positioning of each one in the left-right spectrum. What we are searching for in this paper - resorting to the CMP s coding - is to compare the ideological positioning of the Workers Party (PT) and the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB) on a particular moment in Brazilian politics, accounting the presented measures in the manifestos that both have presented in 2014 presidential elections, supporting respectively Dilma Rousseff and Aécio Neves as candidates. It is important to contemplate the fact that the CMP s coding is divided in seven major categories External Relations, Freedom and Democracy, Political System, Economy, Welfare and Quality of Life, Fabric of Society and Social Groups -, which will be used as the classification structure to present the results. 1.2 Applying the Method 3

4 T A B L E 1. P T a n d PS D B p r o g r a m `s C o d e s c a t e g o r i e s c o u n t i n g a s P T P S D B N % N % 101 F o r e i g n S p e c i a l R e l a t i o n s h i p s : P o s i t i v e 0 0, 0 % 2 0, 2 % 102 F o r eign Spec ial Rel ation ship s: Negati ve 0 0,0% 2 0, 2% 103 A n ti- Imp erial i sm: Posi ti ve 0 0,0% 0 0, 0% S t ate Cen tred Anti -Imp er i al ism 0 0,0% 0 0, 0% F o r eign Fin anci al Influence 1 0,2% 0 0, 0% 104 M i li tary: Po si tive 0 0,0% 10 1, 1% 105 M i li t a r y : N e g a t i v e 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % 106 P e a c e : P o s i t i v e 2 0, 3 % 0 0, 0 % 107 I n t e r n a t i o n a l i s m : P o s i t i v e 12 2, 1 % 10 1, 1 % 108 E u r o p e a n I n t e g r a t i o n : P o s i t i v e 3 0, 5 % 0 0, 0 % 109 I n t e r n a t i o n a l i s m : N e g a t i v e 1 0, 2 % 2 0, 2 % 110 E u r o p e a n I n t e g r a t i o n : N e g a t i v e 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % D o m a i n 1. E x t e r n a l R e l a t i o n s 19 3, 3 % 26 2, 8 % 201 F r e e d o m a n d H u m a n R i g h t s : P o s i t i v e 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % F r e e d o m 3 0, 5 % 1 0, 1 % H u m a n R i g h t s 7 1, 2 % 8 0, 9 % D e m o c r a c y 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % G e n e r a l : P o s i t i v e 2 5 4, 3 % 2 7 3, 1 % G e n e r a l : N e g a t i v e 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % R e p r e s e n t a t i v e D e m o c r a c y : P o s i t i v e 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % D i r e c t D e m o c r a c y : P o s i t i v e 3 0, 5 % 5 0, 6 % C o n s t i t u t i o n a l i s m : P o s i t i v e 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % 4

5 2 04 Con sti tuti onal i sm: N egative 1 0, 2 % 0 0,0 % Do mai n 2. Fr eed o m an d Democr ac y 39 6, 7 % 41 4,7 % 3 01 Dec entr al isation : Posi ti ve 12 2, 1 % 24 2,7 % 3 02 Centr al i satio n : Posi ti ve 1 0, 2 % 0 0,0 % 3 03 G over n mental an d Ad mi nistr ati ve E f f icie n cy: P o siti ve 21 3, 6 % 72 8,2 % P o l i t i c a l C o r r u p t i o n : N e g a t i v e 4 0, 7 % 0 0, 0 % P o l i t i c a l A u t h o r i t y : P o s i t i v e 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % P o l i t i c a l A u t h o r i t y : P a r t y C o m p e t e n c e 2 8 4, 8 % 4 0, 5 % P o l i t i c a l A u t h o r i t y : P e r s o n a l C o m p e t e n c e 2 0, 3 % 1 0, 1 % P o l i t i c a l A u t h o r i t y : S t r o n g g o v e r n m e n t 0 0, 0 % 4 0, 5 % F o r m e r E l i t e s : P o s i t i v e 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % F o r m e r E l i t e s : N e g a t i v e 1 0, 2 % 0 0, 0 % R e h a b i l i t a t i o n a n d C o m p e n s a t i o n 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % D o m a i n 3. P o l i t i c a l S y s t e m 69 11, 9 % , 0 % 401 F r e e E n t e r p r i s e : P o s i t i v e 1 0, 2 % 24 2, 7 % 402 I n c e n t i v e s : P o s i t i v e 28 4, 8 % 38 4, 3 % 403 M a r k e t R e g u l a t i o n : P o s i t i v e 4 0, 7 % 10 1, 1 % 404 E c o n o m i c P l a n n i n g : P o s i t i v e 2 0, 3 % 7 0, 8 % 405 C o r p o r a t i s m : P o s i t i v e 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % 406 P r o t e c t i o n i s m : P o s i t i v e 2 0, 3 % 1 0, 1 % 407 P r o t e c t i o n i s m : N e g a t i v e 0 0, 0 % 2 0, 2 % 408 E c o n o m i c G o a l s 15 2, 6 % 5 0, 6 % 409 K e y n e s i a n D e m a n d M a n a g e m e n t : P o s i t i v e 8 1, 4 % 0 0, 0 % 410 E c o n o m i c G r o w t h 42 7, 3 % 5 0, 6 % 411 T e c h n o l o g y a n d I n f r a s t r u c t u r e : P o s i t i v e 76 13, 1 % 90 10, 2 % 5

6 412 Co n trol led Ec onomy: Po si ti ve 9 1, 6% 0 0,0 % 413 Natio nali sati on : Po sitive 1 0, 2% 0 0,0 % 414 Eco nomic Ortho doxy: Posi ti ve 8 1, 4% 23 2,6 % 415 Marxi st Anal ysi s: Po siti ve 1 0, 2% 0 0,0 % 416 Anti -Growth E c ono my: Posi ti ve 0 0, 0% 0 0,0 % Anti -Gro w t h E c o n o m y : P o s i t i v e 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % S u s t a i n a b i l i t y : P o s i t i v e 1 2 2, 1 % 5 0 5, 7 % D o m a i n 4. E c o n o m y , 1 % , 9 % 501 E n v i r o n m e n t a l P r o t e c t i o n : P o s i t i v e 9 1, 6 % 22 2, 5 % 502 C u l t u r e : P o s i t i v e 20 3, 5 % 30 3, 4 % 503 E q u a l i t y : P o s i t i v e 54 9, 3 % 42 4, 8 % 504 W e l f a r e S t a t e E x p a n s i o n 44 7, 6 % 93 10, 5 % 505 W e l f a r e S t a t e L i m i t a t i o n 0 0, 0 % 8 0, 9 % 506 E d u c a t i o n E x p a n s i o n 47 8, 1 % 67 7, 6 % 507 E d u c a t i o n L i m i t a t i o n 0 0, 0 % 11 1, 2 % D o m a i n 5. W e l f a r e a n d Q u a l i t y o f L i f e , 1 % , 9 % 601 N a t i o n a l W a y o f L i f e : P o s i t i v e 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % G e n e r a l 2 0, 3 % 4 0, 5 % I m m i g r a t i o n : N e g a t i v e 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % N a t i o n a l W a y o f L i f e : N e g a t i v e 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % G e n e r a l 1 0, 2 % 1 0, 1 % I m m i g r a t i o n : P o s i t i v e 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % 603 T r a d i t i o n a l M o r a l i t y : P o s i t i v e 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % 604 T r a d i t i o n a l M o r a l i t y : N e g a t i v e 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % 605 L a w a n d O r d e r 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % 6

7 605.1 Law an d Order: Posi tive 1 8 3,1 % 4 3 4,9% Law an d Order: Neg ative 0 0,0 % 0 0,0 % 606 C ivic M i nd edn ess: Posi tive 0 0,0% 0 0,0 % G en era l 4 0,7 % 1 8 2,0 % B ot tom-up Acti vis m 0 0,0 % 1 1 1,2 % G en era l 0 0,0 % 4 0,5 % I m m i g r a n t s : D i v e r s i t y 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % I n d i g e n o u s r i g h t s : P o s i t i v e 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % M u l t i c u l t u r a l i s m : N e g a t i v e 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % G e n e r a l 0 0, 0 % 1 0, 1 % I m m i g r a n t s : A s s i m i l a t i o n 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % I n d i g e n o u s r i g h t s : N e g a t i v e 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % D o m a i n 6. F a b r i c o f S o c i e t y 25 4, 3 % 82 9, 3 % 701 L a b o u r G r o u p s : P o s i t i v e 22 3, 8 % 25 2, 8 % 702 L a b o u r G r o u p s : N e g a t i v e 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % A g r i c u l t u r e a n d F a r m e r s : P o s i t i v e 13 2, 2 % 29 3, 3 % A g r i c u l t u r e a n d F a r m e r s : N e g a t i v e 0 0, 0 % 0 0, 0 % 704 M i d d l e C l a s s a n d P r o f e s s i o n a l G r o u p s : P o s i t i v e 4 0, 7 % 6 0, 7 % 705 M i n o r i t y G r o u p s : P o s i t i v e 2 0, 3 % 20 2, 3 % 706 N o n - E c o n o m i c D e m o g r a p h i c G r o u p s : P o s i t i v e 3 0, 5 % 20 2, 3 % D o m a i n 7. S o c i a l G r o u p s 4 4 7, 6 % , 4 % 7

8 T otal , 0 % , 0 % Source: : c ea Our boraçã own o elaboration própria a upon parti the r do research ba nc o project de dados Centre-left do projeto and Centro-es Social que s ocia Democracy l- de mocracia in Brazil no Bras and Portugal: il e em P a ortugal comparison : uma between compa raçã political o e nt re trajectories as trajetórias of pol do Brazilian Parti do dos Worker s Traba lha Party and Socialist Party. dores e do Partido S ocia li sta Second Part The programs and its ideological faces: singularities and challenges of the Brazilian case. The attempt to apply an exogenous theory to a particular context is always problematic. The effort to place ideologically the Brazilian political parties through the methodology offered by the Comparative Manifesto Project is no exception to the rule. The departure point is criticized; the political campaigns and their programs are considered in opposition to each other regarding ideological patterns (Miguel, 2010). This argument in general is accomplished by a special emphasis in systemic variables, which outlines the impact of each political system in the manifestos configuration. (Zucco, 2009). In this case, the fragmentation of political party organization that characterizes the Brazilian political system would reinforce the importance of government coalitions, through which the winner party in Presidential elections enables its legislative agenda, bypassing the risks of a paralyzed decision making process and political instability consequences (Figueiredo & Limongi 1999 e 2003; Santos, 2003). In this way, the programmatic documents emerge as dependent variables to the strategic options of the party that aims to enable a sufficient strong coalition in electoral and parliamentary manners (Lucas & Samuels, 2011). This argumentation, nevertheless, it is not limited to the government, but embraces the performances of the parties in government. It occurs due to their programmatic action is equally confined to the necessity of guaranteeing the political support of ideologically distinct forces. Besides the set of interpretations that point out the dilutive ideological effect of parties, there are those that are guided specifically to the practical applicability of 8

9 the Comparative Manifesto Project methodology to the Brazilian political scenario (Madeira & Tarouco, 2013). In this sense, the core point criticized by Tarouco e Madeira regards the difficulty to apply the methodology to Brazilian democratic transition case. In prior works (Madeira & Tarouco, 2010), the authors had already discussed that the political actors positioning face to the military dictatorship is a main factor to their political identity, placing at the right-wing those who were aligned to the regime, and placing at the left-wing the others who were aligned to the opposition. These questions would decrease the relative value of economic considerations in Brazilian ideological scenario (idem 2013), at the expense of the mainly determinant character they usually assume in the standard setting of ideological scale used in Political Science (Downs, 1999). On the other hand, the transition conjuncture and the constituent effervescence would have operate a shift to the left in the ideological positioning of those same actors, that had presented themselves committed to the issues associated to the transformation and the change of the regime, not only regarding to the political system, but also related to the civil rights (Madeira & Tarouco, 2013). Furthermore, the emphasis in a dichotomy as in Downs style, considering economic intervention/left and free market/right, would presuppose a distributive character, that in many times is absent in interventions adopted by the State. This will be the case observed in Brazil, during the military regime, as advised by Madeira e Tarouco: In Brazil that have been exactly the governments of military dictatorship that had adpted comercial barriers to the imports with the objective of levering the national industry development, as well as in many times of history it have been the right wing to demand the direct action of the State in the economy, the mismatch between laissez-faire and minimal state that characterizes the economic liberalism in Europe. (Madeira & Tarouco, 2013, p. 97). Despite agreeing with the historical considerations and the observations about deleterious effects of parties fragmentation, this research supports a different hypothesis, once it presupposes the possibility of ideologically distinguish, considering the CMP methodology, the electoral programs presented by PT and PSDB, positioning the first in the centre-left and the second in the centre-right. In this regard, in the next section, the mainly codification results from the programs launched for the elections of 2014 will be analyzed in a comparative way. Before that, however, it is necessary to make a briefly individual presentation of each one of these 9

10 documents. Third Part The Ideological Positioning of PT and PSDB: An Analysis of 2014 s Government Programs 3.1. Government Plan Aécio Neves PSDB 2014 The document drafted by the Brazilian Social-Democracy Party to the Campaign of 2014 of the candidates Aécio Neves (President) and Aloysio Nunes (Vice-President), both from PSDB, presents along sixty-nine pages the general guidelines of the Government Plan of a coalition named Muda Brasil ( Change Brazil), that is composed by the following parties: PSDB, Solidarity (SD), National Mobilization Party (PMN), National Ecologic Party (PEN), National Labour Party (PTN), Christian Labour Party (PTC), Democrats (DEM), Labour Party of Brazil (PT do B) e Brazilian Labour Party (PTB) 4. The program contains nine topics; the first is dedicated to the presentation of general guidelines and objectives, followed by the exposition of a fundamental compromise 5. In the latter, it emerges a concept of liberty that is valorized by the liberalism of Locke as well as by the liberal republicanism of Kant, in a similar manner this concept of liberty is appraised in more contemporary interpretations like Schumpeter, Dahl and Bobbio. In the other topics (Citizenship, Economy, Education, Efficient State, Foreign Affairs and National Defense, Health, Public Security and Sustainability), it is possible to observe the recidivism of some concepts more related to the social liberalism of the Third Way (Guiddens, 1996 e 2001 (a), (b)), 4 The weight of each party among the coalition varies due to a series of factors. The easily observed factor regards the size of the bench of each party considering the process along in time. According to the website of the House of Deputies, in 2014, PSDB counted with 54 deputies, DEM counted with 21, PTB counted with 25, SD counted with 15, PTM counted with 4, PMN counted with 3, PT do B counted with 2, and PTC counted with 2. Source: According to the website of the Senate, in 2014, the PSDB counts on 12 senators; DEM, 4; PTB, 6 and SD, 1. The other parties of the coalition did not have chairs in the Senate. Source: 5 Reaffirm the basic and fundamental commitment with the defense of freedoms of the Brazilian people, defending by all means the freedom of the press, the freedom of opinion and expression, the independence of the Republic Powers, the Federation, the foundations of our democracy, which permeate all the public policies ( page 7 of their Program, our own translation from the original text). 10

11 entrepreneurship, decentralization, Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), volunteering and Social Participation traverses different topics. Together, these elements point toward the hypothesis outlined at the beginning of the article, i.e. that in terms of ideology, PSDB is at the center-right of Brazilian party ideological spectrum. This, however, is an analytical perception conceived with the help of a qualitative analysis. Now we are going to test if this statement can be confirmed in quantitative terms. With this purpose we will codify the program using the methodology of Comparative Manifest Project. The results of this effort will be presented below in accordance to the seven domains established by the fifth edition of the Manifest Coding Instructions (Werner, Lacewell & Volkens, 2014). In comparison with the others domains, the first one (External Relations) stands out by been the least used. It has received fewer entries throughout the program (26 in total, which corresponds to only 2.6% of all sentences). This fact is interesting because it corroborates some consolidated approaches about Brazilian electoral campaigns, that stresses the little relevance of foreign policy concerning the ordinary citizen (Rocchi, 2015, Onuki, 2006). Still, it is important to emphasize that the code related to the expansion of military expenditures (code 104, Military Positive ) is the most mentioned, followed by one that indicates a favorable position to international cooperation (code 107, Internacionalism Positive), both corresponding to only 1.1% of all sentences. In this regard, it is useful to highlight the fact that, despite the lack of interest in foreign policy, this is an issue that causes an intense debate among Brazilian political and intellectual elites 6. The area dedicated to "Freedom and Democracy" also have few mentions throughout the manifest (only 4.7%, of the sentences), the overwhelming majority of them were coded with (Democracy, comprised of; General: Positive) 7 which 6 Analyzing this section by a qualitative point of view, which takes into account the current debate on Brazilian Foreign Policy we can see that, despite its international recognition, there is no positive mention about diplomatic effort carried out by Luis Inácio Lula da Silva (characterize by the emphasis in South - South relations). Rather, this approach has been strongly criticized by the national media and other oppositional segments (intellectual, political and economic elites). This is expressed in this item throughout the following arguments presented in the PSDB manifesto:(a) the "objective of restoring its traditional character of State policy, aiming at the national interest"; (b) the need to "restore the primacy of commercial liberalization"; (c) the need to "in relation to Mercosur, paralyzed and without strategy, recover its initial goals and ease its rules in order to be able to make progress in the negotiations with third countries". 7 Following the CMP definition this code embrace: Favorable mentions of democracy as the only game in town. General support for the manifesto country s democracy. May also include: Democracy as method or goal in national, international or other organizations (e.g. labour unions, political parties etc.); The need for the involvement of all citizens in political decision-making; Support for parts of 11

12 can indicates a favorable attitude to the democratic freedoms, defined in accordance with the classical liberalism, as freedom of individuals and markets against State interventions 8. In the same way, the apprehension concerning the state control over bureaucracy (Government Effectiveness and Administrative), which appears many times in the program, can also be sent to the foundations of liberalism, more precisely to considerations of J. Stuart Mill and Max Weber. The third domain, dedicated to "Political System", covers 12% of the sentences. In this respect it is important to highlight that, in this manifest, PSDB did not embrace directly any proposal of political reform, despite the fact that many of their most prominent members disapproves the presidential proportional system used in Brazil, public advocating a parliamentary shift and the adoption of a mixed representative system. The only mention concerning this issue is found along with five other "fundamental reforms" proposed by the party: (i) reform of public services, (ii) public security, (iii) political reform, (iv) tax reform, and the reform of the infrastructure sector. About the fourth, the program is limited to say "for the purpose of making the political action more reliable and transparent " 9. Most of the sentences embraced in the third domain were coded with 303 (Government and Administrative Effectiveness), which correspond to one of the topics of the manifesto (State Efficiency). In these sentences, we can see a critical approach on how the public machine was administered during PT administration, which reinforces the role of PSDB as the main oppositional party. On the other hand, the emphasis on efficiency can be referred to the original identity of the party, that sought to differentiate itself from other political opponents by gathering highly qualified parcels of intellectual (academic) and economic (employers) elites, committing them to use their talents as managers and administrators of the state machine (GUIOT, 2006). The fourth area, dedicated to Economy, brings together 28.9% of the manifesto sentences, being the second most mentioned. About this domain, we should democratic regimes (rule of law, division of powers, independence of courts etc.) (Werner, Lacewell & Volkens, 2014, 24). 8 The description of this code mentions: " Favourable mentions of importance of personal freedom in the manifest and other countries. May include mentions of: Freedom from state coercion in the political and economic spheres; Freedom from bureaucratic control; the idea of individualism (Werner, Lacewell & Volkens, 2014). 9 As pointed out in the first part of this article, the defense of parliamentarianism and the claim for a mixed electoral system was very important in the foundation of PSDB. Thus, the manifesto suggests is that these issues have lost space along the last two decades. 12

13 stress the recurrence of the subsidiary principle, which inspires several partnership proposals between public and private actors, regarding primarily investments in Infrastructure and Logistics, but also in Science and Technology. These two sections contain most of the sentences coded with 411 (Technology and Infrastructure: Positive), in reference to the support for public spending on technological infrastructure (Werner, Lacewell & Volkens, 2014, 22), which correspond to 10.2% of the program sentences. Still in the fourth domain, the second more frequent code was the 416.2, that concern positive indications for sustainable development (5.7%), followed by the code that indicates incentives to the productive sector (4.3%). Furthermore, it should be highlighted that the code concerning economic orthodoxy appears in 2.6% of the sentences. Mostly those sentences were located in the item dedicated to macroeconomic strategies. About this subject, it is possible to observe an orthodoxy approach pointed out by the use of the code 414 (Economic Orthodoxy) that express the: need for economically healthy government policy making [and] includes calls for: Reduction of budget deficits; Retrenchment in crisis; Thrift and savings in the face of economic hardship; Support for traditional economic institutions such as stock market and banking system; Support for strong currency (Werner, Lacewell & Volkens, 2014, 22). This commitment to economic orthodoxy can be seen in the manifesto when we observes the guidelines presented at page 44 of the manifesto, where are presented some proposals concerning:(i) budgetary adjustment; (ii) inflation control; (iii) fiscal effort aiming (iv) primary budget surplus. In addiction, the section called "Tax Reform", the party supports the market s claim for tax burden reduction. Thus, in this issue is clear that the program diverge from the social democrat understanding about fiscal justice concerning a progressive and redistributive approach on taxes rates. Those observations reinforce the evidence in favor of our original hypothesis about the center-right ideological bias of the program (and the of Party). On the opposite direction of these evidences, we must mention the indications found in the fifth domain (Welfare and Quality of Life), since this field, that is the core of any social-democratic orientation, concentrates the higher frequencies in PSDB manifesto. About that is important to stress that this domain embraces 30,9% off the manifesto sentences, of which 10,5% are dedicated to proposals concerning 13

14 the expansion of state investment in social care (Social Welfare - code 504) and 7.6% to the expansion of public spending on Education (code 506). As well it is worth mentioning that the party supports the maintenance of two programs implemented during PT s administrations. The first, is the world renowned Bolsa Família, created in 2003 articulating all cash transfers offered by the Federal Government 10 to lowincome citizens. The second is the Universidade para todos (Prouni 11 ) that provides private university scholarships for students that can t afford school fees and had completed their basic and secondary education in public educational system. Although they have had a significant impact on the reduction of inequality and in the increase popular classes literacy, these initiatives can't be considered as being properly compatible with social-democratic principles, since they do not follow the universal orientation that distinguish that approach from the focal policies that targets on a special vulnerable group (ESPING ANDERSEN, 1990). Therefore the defense of Bolsa Família or Prouni should not be considered a capitulation by the PSDB to social-democrat principles, but a evidences that the PSDB, but also the PT are inspired by the focal strategy, that characterizes FMI recommendation for poverty reduction. Moreover, despite this similarity between the two parties, we can find in the Sixth domain (Fabric of Society), some evidences that corroborates our initial hypothesis, i.e. that PT can be situated in the center-left and PSDB in the center-right of the Brazilian ideological spectrum. Thus, is important to highlight that the most frequent code in this domain was (Law and Order General: Positive) that concerns "favorable mentions of strict law enforcement, and tougher actions against domestic including "increasing support and resources for the police and "tougher attitudes in courts (Werner, Lacewell & Volkens, 2014, 24). Finally, the Seventh and final domain, dedicated to Social Groups, concentrates 11.4% of the manifesto sentences, equally distributed between codes (Agriculture and Farmers: Positive), 701 (Labour Groups Positive) and 705 (Underprivileged Minority Groups). This evidence will be useful for a contrast with 10 It is plausible to assume that this consideration follows the argument, commonly used by PSDB sympathizers, that Bolsa Familia is an offshoot of the Bolsa Escola, a program created during Cardozo s administration ( ). See: Ruth- Cardoso-was-precursor-of-bag-familia-says-ano academico-britanico,195523). However, this argument is controversial. Several specialists point outs qualitative and quantitative differences between the two programs. On this see Bichir, 2010; Giannotti for describing, Acronym in Portuguese 14

15 the Workers Party manifesto, since this organization has its identity associated to the proximity with social movements dedicated to this groups. 3.2 Government Plan Dilma Rousseff PT The document elaborated by the Brazilian Workers Party, to the 2014 Campaign of the candidates Dilma Rousseff (PT) and Michel Temer (Brazilian Democratic Movement Party PMDB), shows, in only 25 pages, the general guidelines in the government s program of the coalition named Com a Força do Povo (With the Strength of the People), containing the following parties: PT, PMDB, PDT (Democratic Labour Party), Social Democratic Party (PSD), Progressive Party (PP), Republican Party (PR), Brazilian Republican Party (PRB), Republican Party of the Social Order (PROS) and Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) 12. In its 2014 manifesto, generally speaking, PT gives little regard (below 10% of the total references) to the dimensions related to external relations (3,28%) which means few attention, for example, on the issue of regional integration of Latin America to fabric of society (4,32%) which means, in one way, little care on subjects like law and order, and, as well, in subjects such as native population rights, immigrants, etc. to freedom and democracy (6,74%) and the one that is related to social groups (7,60%) which includes agrarian groups, minority groups and/or discriminated groups, but also the working class, expected to be specially valued by PT. In this sense, only 2% of the total references on this manifesto refer to the improvement of working class conditions. On the other hand, even though PT applies a slightly superior weight (11,92%) to the political system dimension, the truth is that 5% of the total mentions made on the manifesto which fit in this domain are related to the subcategory party competence, that is, it consists fundamentally in compliments made on the previous PT governments and not in deepening or reinforcing the already existing political system. 12 In what concerns the representation of each one of the parties that are part of the coalition, we will use again the parliamentary group size of each party in According to the Chamber of Deputies and Senate website, in this context, PT has 68 deputies and 13 senators, o PMDB 66 and 19, PSD 36 and 1, PP 38 and 5, PR 34 and 4, PDT 19 and 6, PRB 21 and 1, PROS 11 and 1 and PCdoB 10 and 2, deputies and senators respectively. Sources: and 15

16 However, PT dedicates a lot of attention to welfare state and quality of life (30,05%) and above all economy (36,1%) domains. In what concerns welfare state and quality of life category, it is worthy to point out the social-democratic incline of the proposals, visible in the fact that 9,3% of all references in the program are linked with the necessity of greater equality and social justice (referred more generally); that 8,1% of all mentions stress out to education expansion; and 7,6% to the expansion of healthcare and social benefits. On the economy domain, it is noticed some social-democratic inclining, since it is pointed out a way where the State has a boosting role in the economic activity, which is noticeable in the importance given to the public investment in technology, building of infrastructures, connection between research and industry, etc. (13,1% of the total references), or in the weight given to the necessity of the State in boosting policies to promote economic growth, though these come up enunciated in a more general and vague way (7,3% of the total mentions in the manifesto). 3.3 PT s and PSDB s manifestos on a comparative perspective Following the CMP s categories division, we understand that, in the first domain, even though the weight given by both parties on the area of international relations is too identical being a much reduced weight in the totality of the manifestos -, still, PT values internationalism more than PSDB, presenting a positive vision in the necessity of international cooperation, specifically on helping developing countries. In the same way, PT does more positive references to regional integration with other Latin America countries and more positive mentions to peace, reassuring the idea that peaceful means are preferable to conflict resolution. Comparatively, PSDB has only half of the references to internationalism as positive, which indicates giving less importance to the strengthening of political organisms of cooperation and integration. Besides that, PSDB concedes to the vison of military power as something positive the same importance it concedes to internationalism, as it values the perspective on the necessity of security and defense that includes references to the increase in spending with the Defense sector, to the necessity of modernizing and reinforce the Armed Forces. As for PT, it does not make any reference to this specific subtheme. 16

17 In the second domain, related to the questions of freedom and democracy, the space conceded by both parties to the several categories isn t very divergent, in a sense that we even find now a larger agreement related to the weight conceded to the main categories. Both parties have an identical number of positive references about democracy, advocating this political regime, just as both have an identical number of mentions to human rights. Nevertheless, PT assumes a larger defense of the classic freedoms freedom of speech, of press, etc. and, paradoxically, PSDB has more favorable mentions to the deepening of the mechanisms of direct democracy. In the third domain, we find, more than once, a similarity between the two parties in the importance attended to the questions that relate to the political system. However, in this field, there is an obvious gap of choice on reinforced dimensions: PT concedes a great importance to party competence, including, above all, praising references related to the three previous PT s governments (two Lula s governments and Dilma s first government) and negative criticism to the previous PSDB s governments. On this area, PSDB values, overall, the necessity of a greater administrative efficiency, which being a cause also valued by PT, refers primarily to the need of improving bureaucratic processes, which has double the weight in PSDB s manifesto. On the contrary, concerning the fourth domain of the CMP s classification, we do not encounter an identical weight conceded by both parties to economic affairs, once PT shows having a percentage much superior of mentions to these themes than PSDB. Still, as we look to the main category mentioned by both, we do not detect a great ideological gap between them: PSDB and PT present the necessity of investing in technology and infrastructures (namely in the connection between scientific research and business modernization, or in public investment of greater constructions) as the economic domain with bigger importance. Besides that, paradoxically, PSDB grants more than the triple of the weight related (also being the second most focused category) to the necessity of a sustainable economic growth, an economic growth that does not threaten the environment than PT, even though this aspect is also found on Dilma s manifesto. We found some evident ideological differences in the categories that were less mentioned (and that is why we have to conclude that although existing, they are less valued by both parties). PSDB presents a lesser percentage of mentions related to the necessity of public incentives to companies (such as subsidies, tax exemptions, 17

18 business benefits for companies starting their activities, etc.) than PT. Beyond that, the greater part of these incentives are related to the public-private partnerships contracts, which may not be understood as a way of interventionism close to socialdemocracy. On the other hand, it is also certain that PT has a much larger percentage of general references (and not so specific) to the necessity of generating economic growth, to the necessity of the government taking measures to facilitate or increase growth. Indicating the same tendency, PSBD concedes a lot greater weight on the need of economic orthodoxy - that is, the need of having a governance that accomplishes criteria of public deficit that is considered healthy, or that values saving in crisis times, or that protects traditional economic institutions, like the banking system and has equally more favorable mentions to free market. Yet PT has some mentions to the need of employing keynesian policies through demand, so it can promote consumption, and also references to the necessity of the government prosecuting some control over the economy, namely over prices and minimum wage, while PSDB does not refer any of these categories. On the fifth domain, dedicated to the Welfare State, we find some ideological differences. It is certain that the relative weight conceded to this theme is very similar in both parties manifestos, but the truth is, on PT s manifesto, we encounter immediately the double (percentage) of mentions to the need of greater equality and social justice (which contains protecting the more disadvantaged groups, distributing the resources equitably, removing class barriers, for example). It is equally right the fact that PSDB seems to concede greater weight than PT to the need of maintaining and expanding Welfare State (including the health system, pension system, social housing but not education), for presenting a bigger percentage of mentions in this category. Still, it is also a fact that PSDB relates simultaneously the need of expanding welfare state, namely through resorting to the subsidiarity principle, while PT does not mention any need of stopping the growing of Welfare State. In what concerns the education system, the differences between the two parties stand even more obvious. In this area, PT does not only give more weight than PSDB to the need of expanding the education system, as PSDB gives even more room to the idea of limitation on the enlargement of the education system than the room it 18

19 previously had given to the limitation of the Welfare State (while PT, once again, does not mention any idea of braking the enlargement of education). The sixth domain refers to the fabric of society (social organization) and the ideological differences are not as clear as we could expect. It is true that, in the general reckoning of the manifesto, PSDB awards more global weight to the category that has to do with positive references the need of order and strict appliance of the law (which contains the defense of the role of police, the importance of internal security and a much tougher attitude by the courts). However, this category is, within this domain, the most mentioned by PT and, by the way, still within the same domain, PT presents a relative weight of more than 20% conceded to this theme than PSDB. Beyond that, both present a general approach on defending a need of national solidarity not too distant, PSDB presents much more references (e, because of that, seems to grant more importance) to questions related with grassroots activism, specifically the necessity of social movements that demand a social change. Even in multiculturalists matters, or the ones related with immigrant rights or native population rights, we do not find differences worthy of record namely, we do not find records on PT s manifesto, contrary to what would be expected. In the seventh and last domain of CMP s classification that concerns to specific social groups within a society we understand that PSDB applies more weight to this category but, the bigger weight will, partially, contradict ideological differences we could think of detecting. On one hand, it is truth that we encounter here one of the main ideological marks of PT and it is interesting to acknowledge how it maintains: about half of the mentions made to Dilma s manifesto about social groups are favorable mentions to working classes, looking to the necessity of generating more jobs, improve salaries and increase work conditions. This references are, in relative terms, twice as much as PSDB does in its manifesto which constitutes an obvious ideological difference that accompanies and even reinforces those that we had detected in the economic domain. Yet, on the other hand, both parties grant the same relative weight to the need of specific agricultural policies. And, finally, PSDB grants more than the triple of references to minority groups and groups discriminated from society (homosexuals, women, etc.), contrary to what was expectable. 19

20 Conclusion By the motives that had been explained throughout the paper, whether from the quantitative point of view, whether by the qualitative analysis of the referred parties manifestos, we promptly present some topics that might reinforce the relevance of our hypothesis of work, which consists on placing PT in center-left and PSDB on center-right. About the perspective of the parties in the center, by observing aggregated data in the table, we can highlight, already in the first domain, that the absence of critical mentions to the north-american influence, or of other sentences likely to be framed in the codes related to anti-imperialism is significant. This because the suspicion and even the repulse to such influence has been, since the cold war, an unmistakable radicality indicator, recently actualized by the bolivarian governments. For this reason, this absence reinforces the possibility that the two parties might be placed in the center of the ideological spectrum. The first domain (External Relations) also stands out by the absence of importance facing the others, being the one that has received less mentions throughout the manifesto (only 3,3% and 2,8% of the sentences of PT s and PSDB s manifestos, respectively). This fact by itself is already interesting, since it corroborates the thesis that highlight the less relevant character of the external policy in electoral campaigns in Brazil. Still, it is important to point out that the code related to the expansion of military spending (Code 104, Military Positive) is the most mentioned, in the case of PSDB, not having any mention in PT s manifesto. This topic is particularly significant by looking at what the military represents on the long national political past, it also confirms the slight movement in political positioning from the center to the right. In contrast, the importance and value of the democratic precepts in the country s history is significant data to be observed. By considering the item 202.1, the importance with commitment to democracy, is present in both parties, on a more sharpened way in PT (4,3% to the last and 3,1 respectively). Therefore, going back to the argument presented by Madeira and Tarouco (2013), by analyzing the second domain, in particular to the categories related to democratic freedoms e human rights, 20

21 it is needed to reinforce that, in the Brazilian context, they might be considered as a particularly significant marker, in what concerns the respect to the left configuration in the country. Knowing that the military regime was quite frankly interventionist in the economic plan, in the moment of configuration on the party system of the New Republic, the defense of this freedoms obtained more attention by the political actors and civilian society than the dichotomy between state interventionism and free market, determinant to the traditional/downsian ideological spectrum. Something similar occurs on data interpretation when it is considered the punitive perspective in the country, which, in turn, serves as a favorable indicator to the hypothesis that PSDB is placed on the right of PT in the ideological spectrum. Repressing criminality is a substantial matter for the right-wing electorate in the country, and appears in topic (Law and Order: Positive). PSDB shows up almost 2% above PT in that topic (4,9% versus 3,1%), which may have as an illustration of the party positioning a discussion on reducing the legal age in the recent national public debate. Another element that corroborates this same assumption may be found in the fact that even though PSDB pictures more emphatic minority protection, PT presents more mentions to the working class and equality itself (just as public policies of affirmative character, focused on reducing the gap). This distinctive relevant trace shows up confirmed in the category 503 (Equality: Positive), where the percentage of PT is 9,3% and PSDB s 4,8%, which is almost twice as much incidence on the first one relating to the second. None the less, it is in this domain, dedicated to Welfare and Quality of Life, which is found the biggest challenge to the thesis here presented, once it was expected that by being placed left to PSDB, PT would have a bigger frequency of sentences coded with the number 504, related to the expansion of Welfare State. The table above, however, shows a little difference in favor of PSDB with 2,9% more in frequencies related to this category (10,5%, while PT s manifesto has 7,6% correlated to it). This result, meanwhile, relativized when we observe the frequencies of 505, 506 and 507 codes. In what concerns 506, which is related to favorable mentions on the expansion of the education system, PT shows up with a larger frequency (8,1% against 7,6% concerning PSDB s program). Considering 505 and 507 codes, that contemplates sentences favorable to the limitation of public spending with welfare 21

22 and education system, it is observed that in both cases a bigger frequency in PSDB s manifesto, once PT s program does not do any mention to this kind of measure. There is still, by way of conclusion, some quantitative factors that accentuate when referenced on the electoral moment. It is the case with worrying about the control of bureaucracy (Governmental and Administrative Efficiency), that appears repeatedly in PSDB s manifesto. The emphasis on administrative efficiency may be seen as criticism directed to PT s administration, which reinforces PSDB s role as the main opposition party. On the other hand, the emphasis on efficiency may also be considered in an emblematic way of the party s original identity process, which looked to differentiate itself from the others by reuniting highly qualified plots of the intellectual elites (academics) and economical elites (business man) committed to use its talents as managers and administrators of public affairs (Guiot, 2006). In what concerns Dilma s manifesto, reelection candidate, it is evident the defense of her administration, considering topic (Political Authority: Party Competence). The percentage 4,8% of the government s candidature is significant if compared with 0,5% of the opposition. In that sense, what draws attention is the absence of mentions in PSDB s manifesto to its previous administrations, which contributes to expose the fragility of the opposition s organization around a common political project and the reference (in this case absent) of the mention to that tradition in previous managements as a government. More than just pointing out the traces on right and left that support the effort of our hypothesis, there is still space for one last question that is related to the contribution of this paper in the sense of better explaining the transmutation of ideological positioning of the parties throughout time. The topic on economic orthodoxy is one of the exemplary moments in that sense. The mentions to orthodoxy reinforce the hypothesis that PT is not a radical-left party, but a center-left one. That is, it is curious to find out that was, in 2014, larger worrying with economic themes on the parties behalf (Domain 3). On the other hand, it is not irrelevant to find that such movement is associated to a bigger worrying than PSDB s with civilian society related themes, which helps not only placing the party less to the right in themes like militarism, and helps understanding the dispute for government, and the attempt on approaching social topics, previously absents in the parties trajectory on other elections. 22