The Brazilian parliament has been characterized by the large amount of parliamentary fronts created in recent years. Common interpretations, usually based on "managerial" and normative conceptions of political domination, associate this with the fragility of alignments and of party loyalty, or with the "pragmatism" of politicians. Taking federal representatives from the 2002-2006 period as our empirical universe, we seek to demonstrate that these parliamentary fronts are not the product of party fragility, but rather a specific configuration of modes of relationship regarding interest group action and the political scenario. Thus, participation in parliamentary fronts can be directly associated with activities of expertise and the politicization of organized interests. Furthermore, this participation also depends directly on the respective conditions of participation and social and political trajectories. This includes positions within political party cleavages and confrontations, notwithstanding the fact that it represents a pattern of political domination that is different from the so-called "pluralist model" that is usually taken as a normative reference.
parliamentary fronts; interest groups; politicization; political representation; engagement; engagement