Fabiano Santos
Full Professor at the Institute for Social and Political Studies of the Rio de Janeiro State University (IESP-UERJ). He holds a PhD and an MA in Political Science from IUPERJ and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Diego.
His research addresses the internal organisation of the Brazilian National Congress — standing committees, agenda power, party discipline — and executive–legislative relations under coalitional presidentialism. Since 2018 he has also worked on the political economy of legislative decision-making and on political representation in the Legal Amazon.
He has served as president of the Brazilian Political Science Association and of the National Association for Graduate Studies and Research in the Social Sciences. He is an associate editor of the Journal of Politics in Latin America and coordinates six research groups at IESP-UERJ.
Work in English
30 of his 164 published works are in English.
- 2026
Economic change and political shifts: the role of unions in Brazil’s deindustrialization era (2002-2022)
Fabiano Santos; Yago Paiva; Rafael Moura; Camila Vaz · Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
- 2026
Green rhetoric, anti-environmental voting: legislative behavior in Brazil’s agribusiness caucus
Daniela Campello; Gabriel Madeira; Beatriz Rey; Joyce Luz; Fabiano Santos · Environmental Politics
- 2026
Seizing the Agenda: Polarization and Legislative Autonomy in Brazilian Presidentialism
Jamil Civitarese; Fabiano Santos · Center for Open Science
- 2023
Agribusiness, Legislative Elections and Party Fragmentation in Brazil
Fabiano Santos; Thiago Moreira · Bulletin of Latin American Research
- 2023
Brazil's Parliamentary Administration
Fabiano Santos; Fernando Saboia Vieira · The Routledge Handbook of Parliamentary Administrations
- 2021
Assessing the Developmentalist Character of the Workers’ Party Government Project
Luiz Fernando de Paula; Fabiano Santos; Rafael Moura · Neoliberalism or Developmentalism
- 2021
Brazil: Legislative Debate under Coalition Presidentialism Model
Fabiano Santos; Fernando Guarnieri; Nara Salles · The Politics of Legislative Debates
- 2020
The Developmentalist Project of the PT Governments: An Economic and Political Assessment
Luiz Fernando de Paula; Fabiano Santos; Rafael Moura · Latin American Perspectives
- 2019
Capital Mobility, Veto Players, and Redistribution in Latin America During the Left Turn
Fabiano Santos; Acir Almeida; Thiago Moreira da Silva · Brazilian Political Science Review
- 2019
Replication Data for: Capital Mobility, Veto Players, and Redistribution in Latin America During the Left Turn
Fabiano Santos; Acir Almeida; Thiago Moreira da Silva · Harvard Dataverse
- 2018
Replication Data for: Brazilian Congress, 2014 elections and governability challenges
Fabiano Santos; Júlio Canello · Harvard Dataverse
- 2017
Political Institutions and Governability from FHC to Lula
Fabiano Santos; Márcio Grijó Vilarouca · Democratic Brazil Revisited
- 2016
From Protest to Parliamentary Coup: An Overview of Brazil’s Recent History
Fabiano Santos; Fernando Guarnieri · Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies
- 2015
Brazilian Congress, 2014 elections and governability challenges
Fabiano Santos; Júlio Canello · Brazilian Political Science Review
- 2013
The role of the Brazilian legislature in the public policy decision-making process
Fabiano Santos · Policy analysis in Brazil
- 2013
Where Participation Matters: The Impact of a National Level Democratic Innovation on Policymaking in Brazil
Thamy Pogrebinschi; Fabiano Santos · The Governance of Large-Scale Projects
- 2012
The Lula Government and the Social Democratic Experience in Brazil
Fabiano Santos · Development and Semi-Periphery
- 2011
Political Careers in Brazil: Long-term Trends and Cross-sectional Variation
Fabiano Santos; Fabiano J. H. Pegurier · Regional & Federal Studies
- 2009
Urgency Petitions and the Informational Problem in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies
Acir Almeida; Fabiano Santos · Journal of Politics in Latin America
- 2008
Brazilian Democracy and the Power of “Old” Theories of Party Competition
Fabiano Santos · Brazilian Political Science Review
- 2006
Informational theory and the selection of "rapporteurs" in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies
Fabiano Santos; Acir Almeida; Plinio Dentzien · Dados
- 2004
Resenha do livro Ambition, Federalism, and Legislative Politics in Brazil
Fabiano Santos · Perspectives on Politics
- 2004
The selection of committee leadership in the Brazilian chamber of deputies
Fabiano Santos; Lucio Rennó · The Journal of Legislative Studies
- 2003
The Inefficient Secret Revisited: The Legislative Input and Output of Brazilian Deputies
Octavio Amorim Neto; Fabiano Santos · Legislative Studies Quarterly
- 2002
Recruitment and Retention of Legislators in Brazil
Fabiano Santos · Legislatures - Comparative Perspectives on Representative Assemblies
- 2001
The Executive Connection: Presidentially Defined Factions and Party Discipline in Brazil
Octavio Amorim Neto; Fabiano Santos · Party Politics
- 2000
Democracy and Legislative Dynamics in Brazil
Fabiano Santos · Polish Pol. Sci. YB 29, 99
- 2000
Executive-Legislative Relations in an Oligarchic Presidential System: Brazil (1889-1930)
Fabiano Santos; H Gilberto · meeting of the Latin American Studies Association
- 1999
Recruitment and Retention of Legislators in Brazil
Fabiano Santos · Legislative Studies Quarterly
- 1997
The Executive Connection: Explaining the Puzzles of Party Cohesion in Brazil
Octavio Amorim Neto; Fabiano Santos · Twentieth LASA Congress
All 164 works (in Portuguese)
Groups
- OLBObservatório do Legislativo Brasileiro
- NECONNúcleo de Estudos sobre o Congresso
- OLEObservatório dos Legislativos Estaduais
- GEEPGrupo de Estudos de Economia e Política
- LEGALLaboratório de Estudos Geopolíticos da Amazônia Legal
- CeFISCentro de Estudos sobre Finanças Sustentáveis