The Brazilian literature tends to associate the quality of democracy to the organic character of parties regarding their connections to civil society. From this strong normative assumption, gloomy predictions about the consolidation of the Brazilian party system have emerged although there is a lack of empirical analysis to support these claims. This research project studies the implementation of the only mass political party in Brazil, PT (the Workers’ Party) according to literature, by analyzing the effects of grassroots organization on the electoral performance of the party. A review of the literature is also presented which combines the search for new explanatory models based less on "the social structure" and more on the dynamics of agents and players within the political process.
From Andreza Davidian.