The logic of electoral competition in local scenarios: Medellin, 1988-2007

Many of the strategies of political party rearrangement that had been witnessed over the last 30 years in Colombia's political life were gestated in local scenarios hand in hand with normative readjustments as well as processes of change within the interior of political party organizations. Thi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Estudios políticos (Medellín, Colombia) Colombia), 2011-07 (39), p.39-74
Main Authors: Arenas Comez, Juan Carlos, Bedoya Marulanda, John Fredy
Format: Article
Language:Spanish
Subjects:
Colombia
Competition
Elections
Implementation
Political Behavior
Political Parties
Politicians
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Summary:Many of the strategies of political party rearrangement that had been witnessed over the last 30 years in Colombia's political life were gestated in local scenarios hand in hand with normative readjustments as well as processes of change within the interior of political party organizations. This article shows how Colombia's traditional political parties used the strategy of fragmentation to obtain better electoral results and a dominion of the seats in Medellin's Council between 1988 and 2000. Equally, the article analyses the link between the change in the rules of the game in 2003 and the implementation of old practices and processes of rearrangement as a means of sustaining certain electoral achievements. Moreover, the article explains the individual strategies of the candidates from each party during the period 1994-2007, in helping to understand the behavior of individuals in highly fragmented and competitive scenarios. Through the application of various quantitative indices is shown how the local politicians adapted their behavior to different regulatory scenarios. Adapted from the source document.
ISSN:0121-5167