Legislator Success in Fragmented Congresses in Argentina: Plurality Cartels, Minority Presidents, and Lawmaking

Calvo serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Political Science and Legislative Studies Quarterly. His research has been published in numerous top US, European, and Latin American journals such as the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, World Politics, The British Journal of Political Science, Politica

"When can legislative coalitions succeed by virtue of disciplined voting, when by virtue of agenda-setting prowess, and when by combining these capacities? Ernesto Calvo's gem of a book takes on these classic themes, powerfully illuminating both the tangled web of Argentine democracy and the politics of legislative control more broadly." Gary W. Calvo shows that they are not bound to paralysis or crises or to be dominated by presidents. More importantly, he extends our theoretical understanding of the workings of legislatures in presidential systems. Legislatures controlled by a plurality are pretty common, if not prevalent, in most scenarios. In this wonderful book, he explores in Argentina and Uruguay the theoretical relevance and empirical consequences of a circumstance unknown to Congress: plurality control of the legislature. Rohde

Plurality-led Congresses are among the most pervasive and least studied phenomena in presidential systems around the world. Extensive gatekeeping authority without plenary majorities, this book shows, leads to policy outcomes that are substantially different from those observed in majority-led congresses. It describes in detail how the lack of majority support explains legislative success in standing committees, the chamber directorate, and the plenary floor.. Through detailed analyses of legislative success in Argentina and Uruguay, this book explores the determinants of law enactment in fragmented congresses. Often conflated with divided government, where an organized opposition controls a majority of seats in congress, plurality-led congresses are characterized by a party with fewer than 50 percent of the seats still in control of the legislative gates