THE FEDERAL SENSE: the relation between party systems and public policies in Brazil and Argentina

This study highlights the role of the party systems in Brazil and Argentina as a central element for understanding the capacity of coordination of intergovernmental relations (IGRs) and, consequently, for the implementation of national public policies. The main argument is that the levels of conflict of IGRs, throughout history, are modeled by the party system, and it has direct implications in the public policies. The hypothesis is that a greater nationalization of the party system results in more cooperative IGRs, and, consequently, in a greater capacity of territorial penetration of the central state, with intertemporal public policies. It is concluded that the IGRs dynamics in such countries achieve opposite results: while in Argentina it seems to encourage a greater party territorialization, in Brazil it aims at build a more cooperative interaction framework.