Scrutiny of legislative behaviour of members of parliament (MPs) has a long tradition in Western Europe. Nonetheless, there has been a research gap in the Czech Republic. Thus, the dissertation thesis identifies the most burning and exciting questions and delivers the answers as a collection of to some extent separated but still interconnected studies. To be more specific, I employ quantitative methods of analysis. I deal with the data on all the members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic who held the mandate between 1993 and 2017. Overall, the original and unique dataset consists of 1,518 legislators and their comprehensive parliamentary activity. The results suggest that two main conflicts drive parliamentary politics - the institutional division between ruling parties and opposition, and the ideological left-right socio-economic dimension. Besides this, the thesis shows that both the age and tenure of the MPs noticeably affect their parliamentary activity. While older and more experienced MPs propose more bills, address more speeches and obtain more intra- parliamentary posts than young novices, the latter group focuses on the work outside of the parliament. Next, the gender differences in the parliamentary activity of Czech legislators resemble patterns from...

No começo do século XX, Max Weber não incluiu os parlamentares entre os políticos profissionais. Entretanto, passados cinquenta anos da famosa teorização, eles haviam se tornado predominantes nos Parlamentos das nações economicamente desenvolvidas, tanto no presidencialismo como no parlamentarismo. Trata-se de uma mudança que os estudos comparativos atribuem, por um lado, à ampliação das franquias democráticas e da inclusão social e, por outro, à tentativa dos parlamentares de restringir o acesso à instituição e garantir o controle sobre a carreira política. Por meio desta pesquisa, propôs-se analisar a circulação parlamentar na Câmara dos Deputados, desde 1946, quando o Brasil fez sua estreia no grupo das democracias de massa, a fim de verificar se o paradigma da profissionalização legislativa pode ser útil na compreensão do comportamento na Câmara Federal. Pela ampliação dos indicadores tradicionalmente usados na literatura, bem como da análise individual da trajetória política prévia ao ingresso na carreira parlamentar e das entradas e saídas dos deputados pela Câmara dos Deputados, foi possível confirmar a hipótese relativa à prevalência dos políticos profissionais na Câmara dos Deputados. Ademais, os modelos estatísticos revelaram que um dos traços mais marcantes da Câmara dos Deputados - a descontinuidade das carreiras legislativas devido à procura por cargos no Executivo - é característica persistente do sistema político brasileiro, sob regimes democráticos (1946-1964; pós-1988). Por meio da análise comparativa com a França o fenômeno do cumul de mandats- tornou possível entender que a procura por cargos no Executivo, da parte dos deputados federais, insere-se na lógica na profissionalização: o objetivo é assegurar a continuidade da carreira legislativa ou a progressão na carreira política. / Although Max Weber didnt place the members of Parliament among the Professional politicians, by the end of the century most comparative studies saw them as the prevalent political force driving legislative behaviour in the United States and Western Europe. This research was designed to find out whether the Brazilian legislature fits the description above. It analysed the personal circulation in the Câmara dos Deputados from 1946, when the country joined the regimes of mass democracy, to 2007, covering 60 years of parliamentary history. Several indicators were designed in order to diversify the methodological scope that has been applied in the comparative analysis of the Brazilian legislature. Besides, the careers in the Chamber were investigated on individual basis. The findings confirmed, to the Brazilian case, the hypothesis according to which democratisation and legislative professionalization go hand in hand. It also provided evidence to support the claim that one of the main features of the Brazilians legislators behaviour the search for political opportunities in the Executive branch should not be interpreted as it usually is, i.e. as an indicator of the Câmara dos Deputados lack of political prestige. A comparative analysis with the French legislature, the Assemblée Nationale, made it possible to understand the lack of continuity in the Brazilian legislative career as a professional politicians strategy designed to increase much needed political resources aimed either to win reelection or to attain a higher position on the political career ladder.

No começo do século XX, Max Weber não incluiu os parlamentares entre os políticos profissionais. Entretanto, passados cinquenta anos da famosa teorização, eles haviam se tornado predominantes nos Parlamentos das nações economicamente desenvolvidas, tanto no presidencialismo como no parlamentarismo. Trata-se de uma mudança que os estudos comparativos atribuem, por um lado, à ampliação das franquias democráticas e da inclusão social e, por outro, à tentativa dos parlamentares de restringir o acesso à instituição e garantir o controle sobre a carreira política. Por meio desta pesquisa, propôs-se analisar a circulação parlamentar na Câmara dos Deputados, desde 1946, quando o Brasil fez sua estreia no grupo das democracias de massa, a fim de verificar se o paradigma da profissionalização legislativa pode ser útil na compreensão do comportamento na Câmara Federal. Pela ampliação dos indicadores tradicionalmente usados na literatura, bem como da análise individual da trajetória política prévia ao ingresso na carreira parlamentar e das entradas e saídas dos deputados pela Câmara dos Deputados, foi possível confirmar a hipótese relativa à prevalência dos políticos profissionais na Câmara dos Deputados. Ademais, os modelos estatísticos revelaram que um dos traços mais marcantes da Câmara dos Deputados - a descontinuidade das carreiras legislativas devido à procura por cargos no Executivo - é característica persistente do sistema político brasileiro, sob regimes democráticos (1946-1964; pós-1988). Por meio da análise comparativa com a França o fenômeno do cumul de mandats- tornou possível entender que a procura por cargos no Executivo, da parte dos deputados federais, insere-se na lógica na profissionalização: o objetivo é assegurar a continuidade da carreira legislativa ou a progressão na carreira política. / Although Max Weber didnt place the members of Parliament among the Professional politicians, by the end of the century most comparative studies saw them as the prevalent political force driving legislative behaviour in the United States and Western Europe. This research was designed to find out whether the Brazilian legislature fits the description above. It analysed the personal circulation in the Câmara dos Deputados from 1946, when the country joined the regimes of mass democracy, to 2007, covering 60 years of parliamentary history. Several indicators were designed in order to diversify the methodological scope that has been applied in the comparative analysis of the Brazilian legislature. Besides, the careers in the Chamber were investigated on individual basis. The findings confirmed, to the Brazilian case, the hypothesis according to which democratisation and legislative professionalization go hand in hand. It also provided evidence to support the claim that one of the main features of the Brazilians legislators behaviour the search for political opportunities in the Executive branch should not be interpreted as it usually is, i.e. as an indicator of the Câmara dos Deputados lack of political prestige. A comparative analysis with the French legislature, the Assemblée Nationale, made it possible to understand the lack of continuity in the Brazilian legislative career as a professional politicians strategy designed to increase much needed political resources aimed either to win reelection or to attain a higher position on the political career ladder.

Ce mémoire s’intéresse à la formation des partis politiques et l’origine de la loyauté partisane à la Chambre d’assemblée du Bas-Canada entre 1791 et 1840. Pour ce faire, le présent mémoire fait une analyse systématique de tous les votes tenus en Chambre grâce à l’indice de loyauté et à la méthode de la Classification optimale (Optimal Classification) développée par Poole (2005). Il soutient la thèse selon laquelle l’ethnicité est la principale source de division entre les députés lors des votes tenus à la Chambre d’assemblée du Bas-Canada lors des premières législatures et que c’est plutôt l’opposition entre les réformistes constitutionnels et les conservateurs favorables à l’ancien régime qui explique les divisions entre les députés lors des deux dernières législatures. Il soutient également que le statut social des députés, le type de comté dans lequel ils sont élus, l’occupation civile des députés ou leur expérience parlementaire n’expliquent pas l’opposition entre les députés lors des votes au Parlement. Ce mémoire émet également l’hypothèse selon laquelle les partis politiques ont peu d’impact sur le comportement législatif de leurs membres : les députés sont libres de voter selon leurs préférences individuelles sans véritable discipline partisane. / This thesis investigates the development of political parties and the origin of party loyalty in the legislative Assembly in Lower-Canada between 1791 and 1840. To do so, this thesis conducts a systemic analysis of the legislative behaviour of the Members of Parliament (MPs) with the loyalty index and the Optimal classification developed by Poole (2005). It demonstrates that language is the most salient issue of division among MPs in the first Parliaments, and that constitutional issues (reformists against conservatives) are the primary causes of conflict in the two last Parliaments. Moreover, we found that there is no clear divide between MPs according to their social status, the type of district in which they are elected, their occupation or their parliamentary experience. Finally, we also hypothesize that Members of Parliament do not tend to organize along party lines; instead they vote according to their individual preferences.