SHAPING THE BRAZILIAN POLITICAL CLASS: CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF RECRUITMENT TO THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES

This article profiles the contemporary Brazilian political class by reviewing recruitment to the lower house of the national legislature. We pose political recruitment as both a dependent and an independent variable. After reviewing changes in the profile of politicians, we ask whether patterns of recruitment have any real impact on the functioning or output of the Camara dos Deputados. We demonstrate that three intervening variables-party type, social structure of geographie constituencies, and malapportionment-condition the relationship between political recruitment and legislative engagement. Deputies recruited from states with low levels of human development are Jess legislatively active, and deputies recruited to politics by conservative, catch-all parties are Jess active than their counterparts on the left. Malapportionment magnifies the importance of partisan factors and social structure in shaping Brazilian legislative life.