Abstract

TOLOZA CASTILLO, Mackarena  and  TORO MAUREIRA, Sergio. Keep your Friends Close, and your Enemies Closer: Legislative Behavior and Coalitions Discipline in Chile during the Government of Sebastián Piñera. Rev. Urug. Cienc. Polít. [online]. 2017, vol.26, n.1, pp.131-149. ISSN 0797-9789.

The aim of this paper is to explain the causes of the legislative success in the presidential term led by Sebastian Piñera (2010-2014). We use this period because it has been the only period ruled by the right-wing coalition since the return to democracy. Analyzing roll call votes and committees formation in the Chilean Congress, we compare the strategies devised by Sebastián Piñera for approving their bills with the previous strategies utilized by the ‘Concertación’ during two decades (1990-2010). We argue that the legislative success of Sebastián Piñera was due to his ability to maintain the same two political games employed by the ‘Concertación’ governments: to boost a high degree of unity in the pro-government parties and to reach particular agreements with specific members of the opposition.

Keywords : lLgislative behavior; executive branch; legislator; Congress; Chile.

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