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