The electoral performance of Latin American traditional parties, 1978-2006

This article explains variation in the electoral trajectories of Latin American traditional parties since transitions to democratic governments in the late 20th century until the first half of the 2000s, when democracies were already consolidated. This article addresses the question of why some part...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Party politics 2016-11, Vol.22 (6), p.758-772
Main Author: Wills-Otero, Laura
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Democratization
Economic crises
Elections
Latin America
Political behavior
Political parties
Political science
Scandals
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This article explains variation in the electoral trajectories of Latin American traditional parties since transitions to democratic governments in the late 20th century until the first half of the 2000s, when democracies were already consolidated. This article addresses the question of why some parties suffer more than others under challenging contextual conditions, or why some parties are able to weather difficult external environments, e.g. economic crises, institutional reforms or political scandals, while others fail. This study argues that the internal organization of parties matters: it affects their ability to react and survive, especially in contexts of environmental change. Variation in parties' internal characteristics explains different outcomes in their electoral performance. An empirical analysis of 48 traditional parties over almost three decades (1978-2006) provides support for this argument.
ISSN:1354-0688
1460-3683
DOI:10.1177/1354068814563971