Composição e atuação da "Bancada da Bala" na Câmara dos Deputados

Abstract

This dissertation is a case study dedicated to a research of a group of parliamentarians from the Chamber of Deputies informally known as the "bullet caucus". The work had as a starting point a theoretical discussion about the intensification of the political clash on issues related to public security and criminal policy, as well as the strategy of the political right and social conservatism to address these guidelines from a punitive and repressive perspective, as a mean of gathering political and electoral support. From this perspective, the research sought to identify the origins of the phenomenon identified as the "bullet caucus", then establish a consolidated definition of this group and, based on determined criteria, identify the components of the group in the 54th and 55th Legislatures. The identification of the parliamentarians took place concurrently with the exploration of the political disputes that took place in the plenary and committees of interest of the House on topics related to public security. The work sought to present the performance of this parliamentary group of interest between 2011 and 2018, aiming to observe the level of organization and structuring of the caucus, identifying the spaces preferentially occupied by their deputies, as well as the ways in which the group seeks to direct the legislative agenda in its areas of interest. The research identified a strong concentration of members of the Bullet Caucus in the Committee on Public Security and Combating Organized Crime and temporary committees on security issues, and a high legislative output by these MPs for legislative changes in order to tighten criminal law and direct public security policy to a repressive and militarized paradigm. A large part of the Bullet Caucus also had a strongly corporate profile in favor of professions linked to security as a whole, since many of the members of the group have as their professional origin occupations linked to these themes. The theoretical expectations of a numerical growth of parliamentarians who defended proposals for a punitive and “zero tolerance” approach between the 54th and 55th Legislatures were confirmed. There were also two other major changes in the period: a continued radicalization of deputies over the period under review, towards more repressive proposals and an authoritarian view on crime, security and public order; and a greater insertion of topics of interest to the group on the agenda of the House, starting in the presidency of Eduardo Cunha, and Michel Temer in charge of the Executive. Finally, regarding the nature of the group's activity and its internal cohesion, a significant level of internal coordination and joint action of the Bullet Caucus was identified, intensified as from 2015; but at the same time, significant political disagreements and conflicting interests among the bench members have been identified, with no single thinking or fully cohesion in all topics of interest.