Elections and group formation on municipal politics: the historical nature of alliances

Abstract

This article analyzes the dynamics of support for candidates in municipal elections in the city of Maringá, between 1952 and 2016. To this end, I gathered all supports to candidates, formally or informally manifested (by official sources or informal reports). Taking into account the relationship between the formation of political cliques and the different native meanings given to the local political space, I pursue two central questions a) how the native theorizations about the local political game reflect the permanence of durable meanings that characterize the political projects at stake and, thus, elect what constitutes the proper object of disputes in the political debate; b) how the composition of cliques, instead of reflecting pragmatic and above all situational strategies, mirror social hierarchies built locally and historically.