POLITICAL PARTIES & THE LATIN AMERICAN POLITY

INTEREST AGGREGATION or the

Combining of Demands

An activity process Backed by resourcesCan be performed by

Individual or group

Political party the dominant form

INSTITUTIONAL GROUPS INTEREST AGGREGATION

Institutional groups with a history as aggregators of political interests Religious denominations (especially Roman

Catholic Church in Latin America) Military organizationsBureaucracy (Ministry of Public Works)

Military: Second most important Aggregators of Political Interests in Latin

America

Monopoly of coercive resourcesGoals vary

Nationalistic development within global capitalism (Brazilian model 1964-85)

Social justice and revolutionary change (Peruvian model 1968-79)

Process of aggregating interests changes the military as an institution

ASSOCIATIONAL GROUPS AS INTEREST AGGREGATORS

Composed of associations of institutionsExamples include :

Peasant confederationsLabor confederationsMiddle class groups (civic associations)Urban Poor (Bolivarian Circles in contemporary

Venezuela)

In Latin America

Political parties are the most important institutions involved in interest aggregation

Nineteenth century political parties founded by elite groups in competition with other factions of the traditional “big three” ConservativesLiberals

Contemporary Latin America

Most contemporary political parties and party systems emerged following periods of military rule Traditional Conservatives and Liberals

destroyed

Exception: Colombia - 19th century Conservative and Liberal political parties continue to dominate the system of political parties

Rise of Contemporary Political Parties in Latin

America

Middle sectors in the Southern Cone gained visibility during first decade of Twentieth CenturyGave rise to reformist political parties

Radicals in Argentina & ChileColorados & Blancos in Uruguay

Some with international tiesCommunist parties Socialist parties

Mexican Revolution 1917

Revolution Led to establishment of Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI) in 1928

Mass based party with a revolutionary agenda tempered with passage of

timeAspired to include all

classes (polyclasista) Control consolidated by

Lázaro Cardenas Ruled Mexico for more

than 70 years (until 2000)

Emergence of Contemporary Political

Parties in Latin America: Center-Left Tradition I

Haya de la Torre – APRA

Growth of the middle sectors throughout Western Hemisphere in 1920’s and 1930’s led to the founding of a new group of mass based political parties APRA in Peru (Indo-America) Most Focused on national

concernsPLN in Costa Rica AD in Venezuela

Emergence of Contemporary Political Parties in Latin

America II.

Christian Democratic parties appeared in 1930’s and 1940’s Varying degrees of clerical orientation Led by pro-clerical middle classGreatest successes in Venezuela, Chile & Costa

Rica

Emergence of Contemporary Political Parties in Latin

America III. Nationalist

parties based on strong personalities who established linkages to disadvantaged sectors

Peronism in 1940’s (Argentina)

Velasco Ibarra in 1940’s (Ecuador)

Chavismo in 1990’s (Venezuela)

Evita Peron addresses crowd

of 2,000000

Political Party Systems differ from Political Parties

Political party systems include: Constellation of individual political partiesRelationships among the political parties

Types of party systems (first cut)Non-competitiveCompetitive

Party Systems Structured by Elections and Voting

Procedures

Universal suffrage widespread by the end of the twentieth century

Voting often compulsory Plural vs. proportional representationElectoral turnoutSimultaneity of national and regional

elections

National and Regional Institutions of Government

also Structure Party Systems

Strong national political institutions favor national party system

Single Member Districts vs. proportional representation

Decentralization opens way for regional political parties

PARTY SYSTEMS CAN BE NON-COMPETITIVE

Mexican party system until 2000Argentine party system between 1946 – 1955Emerging Venezuelan party system of the

Fifth Republic

Competitive Party Systems: more than one political party has

possibility of winning

Majoritarian MultipartyAttitudes toward regime

Consensual, ConflictualConsociational

Political Parties in Government

Pass and implement legislation Use of negotiations, bargaining, and

competitionForm coalitions in order to governSome accountability expected in democracies

Characteristics of Interest Aggregation by Political Parties In Latin America

Restrains and limits the impact of political culture

Alters (or exacerbates?) the amount of polarization

In comparison with dictatorial control aggregation by political parties tends to be supportive of Freedom Participation Stability

Trends in Political Party and Party System

Evolution

More democracy?RepresentativeDirect

Movement away from single party systems? Decline of ideology? Special case of Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia