This paper proposes a research agenda for Political Science in South America: the study of the institution of the vice-presidency. The article points out the scarce academic attention that this institution has received. It presents a bibliographical review of the way the subject has been dealt with in Political Science in the United States and in South America, develops a comparative approach to the different institutional arrangements existing in South America, and proposes different lines of research that could be articulated and thus contribute significantly to other topics studied by Comparative Politics on the continental level.