Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

Analysis of Municipal Organic Laws based on constitutionalism in Political Science

Abstract:

The text analyzes the Municipal Organic Laws (LOMs) under the key of theories on constitutionalism in political science. We suggest a research design that integrates the analysis of municipal politics with political science that focuses on the national level. We mobilize theories about national constitutions that explain characteristics such as the extension, thematic division, and the amendment of LOMs. We created a database with quantitative characteristics of the texts and amendments of the LOMs since 1988. This convenience sample includes 743 municipalities. We complete the data on LOMs with information on the population size of municipalities, local elections, and municipal budgets. As a result of the work, we confirmed the external validity of the hypotheses about the importance of the thematic division and the demographic characteristics of the communities on the length of texts and the frequency of their amendment. Another hypothesis, regarding constitutions as insurance against unstable political majorities, has not been confirmed. We also explore new factors, such as the budget volume and the financial dependence of municipalities, whose impact on constitutions and amendments is revealed to be specific. The work points to new paths for research, exploring the external validity of theories about constitutionalism based on state and local data and suggesting a new research agenda to improve the understanding of the nested characteristics of LOMs within the federal system.

Keywords:
constitutionalism; municipal constitutions; local politics; amendments; quantitative analysis

Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Ciências Sociais - ANPOCS Av. Prof. Luciano Gualberto, 315 - sala 116, 05508-900 São Paulo SP Brazil, Tel.: +55 11 3091-4664, Fax: +55 11 3091-5043 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: anpocs@anpocs.org.br