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"Political parties Latin America."
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The fates of political parties : institutional crisis, continuity, and change in Latin America
\"Political parties in the developing world often face serious electoral crises; from one election to the next, parties can be decisively voted out of national office. What happens to a party that experiences this kind of voter rejection? The literature suggests it will disappear, leaving the party system vulnerable to the inexperience of new political actors. The Fates of Political Parties offers a more nuanced perspective: focusing on a number of individual Latin American countries as well as the region as a whole, it identifies considerable variation regarding how parties survive and even revive after an electoral crisis. The book revitalizes the study of parties as complex entities that rely on a potentially diverse set of resources to remain active in politics. It demonstrates that parties can be remarkably enduring institutions; surviving and reviving parties represent instances of institutional stability. Where they endure, those parties can sustain competition and strengthen the democratic regime.\" --publisher's website.
Book
Welfare and Party Politics in Latin America
Systems of social protection can provide crucial assistance to the poorest and most vulnerable groups in society, but not all systems are created equally. In Latin America, social policies have historically exhibited large gaps in coverage and high levels of inequality in benefit size. Since the late 1990s, countries in this region have begun to grapple with these challenges, enacting a series of reforms to healthcare, social assistance and education policy. While some of these initiatives have moved in a universal direction, others have maintained existing segmentation or moved in a regressive direction. Welfare and Party Politics in Latin America explores this variation in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Venezuela, finding that the design of previous policies, the intensity of electoral competition, and the character of political parties all influence the nature of contemporary social policy reform in Latin America.
eBook
Party systems in Latin America's neoliberal era : changing course
\"This book explores the impact of economic crises and free-market reforms on party systems and political representation in contemporary Latin America. It explains why some patterns of market reform align and stabilize party systems, whereas other patterns of reform leave party systems vulnerable to widespread social protest and electoral instability. In contrast to other works on the topic, this book accounts for both the institutionalization and the breakdown of party systems, and it explains why Latin America turned to the Left politically in the aftermath of the market-reform process. Ultimately, it explains why this \"left turn\" was more radical in some countries than others and why it had such varied effects on national party systems\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Party Vibrancy and Democracy in Latin America
How do political parties remain vibrant organizations? This qualitative study of political parties in Chile, Costa Rica, and Uruguay explains how party vibrancy is maintained and reproduced over time. A vibrant party is an active organization that operates beyond electoral cycles, has clear symbols, and maintains a significant presence in the territory. The study identifies the complex interaction between four causal factors that account for the reproduction of party vibrancy: Purpose, Trauma, Channels of Ambition, and moderate Exit Barriers. Purpose activates retrospective loyalty among members. Trauma refers to a shared traumatic past that engenders retrospective loyalty. Channels of Ambition are routes by which individuals can pursue a political career. Moderate Exit Barriers are rules that set costs of defection at reasonable levels. The case studies suggest that, after a process of consolidation and stability, the presence of the four causal factors explains party vibrancy. The presence of the factors then sustains the reproduction of this vibrancy over time. The four causal factors are observed during a party’s “golden age.” Vibrant parties are resilient. Yet the study also shows that the ability of Trauma to forge loyalty decreases over time and that the long-term reproduction of Purpose can be elusive, as has been shown in Latin America. Older vibrant parties thus exhibit a combination of only Channels of Ambition and moderate Exit Barriers, and are less resilient than those that also have Purpose and/or Trauma.
eBook
The resurgence of the Latin American left
Latin America experienced an unprecedented wave of left-leaning governments between 1998 and 2010. This volume examines the causes of this leftward turn and the consequences it carries for the region in the twenty-first century.
The Resurgence of the Latin American Left asks three central questions: Why have left-wing parties and candidates flourished in Latin America? How have these leftist parties governed, particularly in terms of social and economic policy? What effects has the rise of the Left had on democracy and development in the region? The book addresses these questions through two sections. The first looks at several major themes regarding the contemporary Latin American Left, including whether Latin American public opinion actually shifted leftward in the 2000s, why the Left won in some countries but not in others, and how the left turn has affected market economies, social welfare, popular participation in politics, and citizenship rights. The second section examines social and economic policy and regime trajectories in eight cases: those of leftist governments in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Venezuela, as well as that of a historically populist party that governed on the right in Peru.
Featuring a new typology of Left parties in Latin America, an original framework for identifying and categorizing variation among these governments, and contributions from prominent and influential scholars of Latin American politics, this historical-institutional approach to understanding the region's left turn—and variation within it—is the most comprehensive explanation to date on the topic.
eBook
The success of the left in Latin America : untainted parties, market reforms, and voting behavior
\"Why, since the beginning of the twenty-first century, have so many Latin American countries elected governments identifying themselves with the ideological Left? In The Success of the Left in Latin America: Untainted Parties, Market Reforms, and Voting Behavior, Rosario Queirolo argues that the \"pink tide\" that swept across Latin America beginning in the late 1990s--with the election of a growing number of leftist political candidates to public office--was caused by the intent of voters to punish political parties unable to improve the economic well-being of their electorates. She argues that Latin Americans vote based on performance, ousting those whom they perceive as responsible for economic downturns, and ushering into power those in the \"untainted opposition,\" which has been the Left in most Latin American countries. Queirolo argues that the effects of neoliberal economic reforms did not produce more votes for political parties on the Left. Rather, the key variable is unemployment. Left-leaning parties in Latin America increase their electoral chances when unemployment is high. In addition to explaining recent electoral successes of leftist parties, The Success of the Left in Latin America also undermines a dominant scholarly view of Latin Americans as random and unpredictable voters by showing how the electorate at the polls holds politicians accountable. \"Rosario Queirolo's The Success of the Left in Latin America: Untainted Parties, Market Reforms, and Voting Behavior makes a valuable contribution to the study of Latin American politics and of comparative politics more generally. Queirolo makes a compelling argument that the general shift to the Left in Latin America was less a straightforward protest against neoliberal policies but more strongly a reaction to negative economic performance. Enriched with extensive survey data, her book is authoritative and persuasive.\" --Elizabeth J. Zechmeister, Vanderbilt University\"-- Provided by publisher.
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From Movements to Parties in Latin America
Provides a detailed treatment of an important topic that has received no scholarly attention: the surprising transformation of indigenous peoples' movements into viable political parties in the 1990s in four Latin American countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela) and their failure to succeed in two others (Argentina, Peru). The parties studied are crucial components of major trends in the region. By providing to voters clear programs for governing, and reaching out in particular to under-represented social groups, they have enhanced the quality of democracy and representative government. Based on extensive original research and detailed historical case studies, the book links historical institutional analysis and social movement theory to a study of the political systems in which the new ethnic cleavages emerged. The book concludes with a discussion of the implications for democracy of the emergence of this phenomenon in the context of declining public support for parties.
eBook
Why presidents fail : political parties and government survival in Latin America
Democracy and political parties go hand in hand. Strong parties are fundamental for advancing, stabilizing, and improving democratic governance. But how exactly do political parties relate to, and contribute to, the survival of presidential administrations? Since 1979, over twenty Latin American chief executives had been forced out of office, without a democratic breakdown—a phenomenon known as \"presidential failure.\" Why Presidents Fail offers a nuanced assessment of how political parties influence how and when executives weather political crises and unrest. Christopher A. Martínez takes a close look at how different factors come into play to explain why some presidents complete their terms in office without incident, others barely make it to the end after stumbling upon crisis after crisis, and some are forced out or impeached before their term is finished. Drawing on a novel theoretical approach, an original database on presidential scandals and anti-government demonstrations, regression (survival analysis) models, country case studies, and interviews with more than one hundred country specialists and top-level politicians, Why Presidents Fail provides an innovative, comprehensive assessment of how political parties influence presidential survival and contributes fresh ideas to the debates on the stability of presidential governments.
eBook
Power in the Balance
In Power in the Balance: Presidents, Parties, and
Legislatures in Peru and Beyond , Barry S. Levitt answers
urgent questions about executive power in \"new\" democracies. He
examines in rich detail the case of Peru, from President Alan
García's first term (1985-1990), to the erosion of democracy under
President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), through the interim
government of Valentín Paniagua (2000-2001) and the remarkable, if
rocky, renewal of democracy culminating in Alejandro Toledo's
2001-2006 presidency. This turbulent experience with democracy
brings into clear focus the functioning of formal political
institutions-constitutions and electoral laws, presidents and
legislatures, political parties and leaders-while also exposing the
informal side of Peru's national politics over the course of two
decades.
Levitt's study of politics in Peru also provides a test case for
his regional analysis of cross-national differences and change over
time in presidential power across eighteen Latin American
countries. In Peru and throughout Latin America, Levitt shows, the
rule of law itself and the organizational forms of political
parties have a stronger impact on legislative-executive relations
than do most of the institutional traits and constitutional powers
that configure the formal \"rules of the game\" for high politics.
His findings, and their implications for improving the quality of
new democracies everywhere, will surprise promoters, practitioners,
and scholars of democratic politics alike.
eBook