ABSTRACT
The following article analyzes the recruitment of Brazilian senators in the period running from 1890 to 1934, when the country was under an oligarchic political regime. Utilizing Robert Dahl’s terminology, we aim to identify if it is possible to gauge political professionalization in the midst of a regime of “competitive oligarchies” marked by restricted participation and by political competition limited by the domination of small groups. If found to be true, this will allow us to problematize the relationship often made in classic and contemporary literature between polyarchies and political professionalization and to suggest that this can even occur under a regime of “competitive oligarchies”. The analysis is based on a tracing of the political careers of 851 leaders throughout the period.
political professionalization; competitive oligarchy; First Republic; Brazilian senators; polyarchy
