Latin American Traditional Parties 1978 2006 Electoral Trajectories And Internal Party Politics

Parties are the major actors of political representation in democracies. They have been acknowledged repeatedly as the critical link between voters, representatives and guarantors of democratic governance. Without them, a democracy can hardly be said to exist because they are the principal links between government and society. However, parties can lose their representative capacity, and be challenged by disaffected electorates that pursue other alternatives for political involvement. This book focuses upon the electoral weakening of Latin America's traditional parties. These parties dominated the political arena in the region during the last decades of the twentieth century. They played a significant role in the legitimation of democratic politics in particular when countries transited from authoritarian regimes in the late 1950s (Colombia and Venezuela) and later on, in the late 1970s (e.g., Ecuador) and 1980s (e.g., Argentina, Uruguay, Chile). Latin American traditional parties structured post-authoritarian political and party systems; they defined the rules of the democratic game (i.e., electoral systems); they became consolidated as the principal agents of political representation and were the main actors in policy-making processes. However, by the beginning of the 21st century (2000-2005) many of them faded, and political outsiders with antiestablishment discourses as well as new parties and political movements flourished.

Around the world, established parties are weakening, and new parties are failing to take root. In many cases, outsiders have risen and filled the void, posing a threat to democracy. Why do most new parties fail? Under what conditions do they survive and become long-term electoral fixtures? Brandon Van Dyck investigates these questions in the context of the contemporary Latin American left. He argues that stable parties are not an outgrowth of democracy. On the contrary, contemporary democracy impedes successful party building. To construct a durable party, elites must invest time and labor, and they must share power with activists. Because today’s elites have access to party substitutes like mass media, they can win votes without making such sacrifices in time, labor, and autonomy. Only under conditions of soft authoritarianism do office-seeking elites have a strong electoral incentive to invest in party building. Van Dyck illustrates this argument through a comparative analysis of four new left parties in Latin America: two that collapsed and two that survived.

"The relationship between populism and democracy is a hotly debated topic. Some believe that populism is inherently bad for democracy because it is anti-pluralist and confrontational. Others argue that populism can reinvigorate worn-out democracies in need of an infusion of greater popular participation. This book advances this debate by examining the empirical relationship between populism in power and democracy in five Latin American countries. These cases reveal that populism in power does not always lead to the demise of democracy; rather, it does so only under certain varieties of populism. When populist chief executives are bent on using the state's repressive apparatus to subvert democracy, and enjoy significant public support, then it requires an extraordinary effort by both the opposition and the judiciary to contain their efforts at power aggrandizement. If they succeed in overcoming societal and institutional resistance, then an unconstrained variety of populism in power will materialize. The significant power asymmetry that this variety entails will lead to the demise of electoral democracy. If populist leaders are constrained by the judiciary and other institutional actors, then electoral democracy will be preserved, at least for a while. Of the five cases of populist presidents studied here, four were able to rule unconstrained, and only one the populist was contained. The book offers a theory to explain this divergent outcome. There is a recognizable pattern in the trajectory of populism in power, with one path leading to democratic erosion and another to democratic survival"--

The 2021 volume of the benchmark bibliography of Latin American Studies.

This book generates a wealth of new empirical information about Latin American party systems and contributes richly to major theoretical debates about party systems and democracy.

Party Brands in Crisis offers a new way of thinking about how the behavior of political parties affects voters' attachments.

Politicians tied to a set of policies provide people with actual choices. They attract like-minded activists, campaign in more focused ways, and build an attractive party label. Last but not least, they are more likely to succeed in public office. Political parties in many countries are struggling to shift from personality-based or clientelistic-focused approaches -- to more programme-based strategies as they reach out to voters. What features do successful programmatic parties exhibit that others lack? How is their success related to the quality of their leadership, the prosperity of the country, or the capacity of the state? What impact do economic or political crises exert on how politicians behave? Why must programmatic parties be considered together with citizens demanding better services? This book is based on the work carried out by three teams of political scientists who examined what drives and strengthens programmatic politics, even under unlikely conditions. The authors draw lessons from Brazil, Bulgaria, the Dominican Republic, India, South Korea, Ukraine, Taiwan, Turkey, and Zambia, and uses the most up to date and comprehensive research on democratic accountability and citizen-politician linkages.