Disunity in Diversity: Party System Fragmentation and the Dynamic Effect of Ethnic Heterogeneity on Latin American Legislatures

• Published in: Latin American research review 2007-01, Vol.42 (1), p.99-125
• Main Authors: Jóhanna Kristín Birnir, Van Cott, Donna Lee
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: America; American Indians; Bolivia; Case studies; Congressional elections; Cultural Pluralism; Ecuador; Election results; Ethnic diversity; Ethnic Groups; Ethnicity; Ethnolinguistics; Ethnology; Heterogeneity; Highlands; Historical text analysis; Incorporation; Indigenous peoples; Indigenous Populations; Influence; Interethnic relations; Latin America; Latin American studies; Legislative Bodies; Legislature; Legislatures; Linguistics; Minority & ethnic groups; Multiculturalism; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Native peoples; Parliamentary government; Partisanship; Party affiliation; Party systems; Pluralism; Political aspects; Political participation; Political Parties; Political structure; Political Systems; Politics; Population; Populism; Presidential elections; Public participation; Race; Regional studies; Research review studies; Social aspects; Social organization, political organization and power, relations with the State; Social structure; Social structure and social relations; Studies; Voting
• ISSN: 0023-8791; 1542-4278; 1542-4278
• DOI: 10.1353/lar.2007.0000

This paper demonstrates that in Latin America a significant portion of the increased legislative party system fragmentation since the 1980s is explained by the recent political incorporation of ethnic populations. Until now, scholars have likely not identified this relationship because they have not used the nuanced measures of ethnic fractionalization that account for internal diversity of indigenous populations and race, and because they have not focused on the time period when ethnic peoples were politically incorporated. In addition to demonstrating this relationship statistically, we use two case studies from Bolivia and Ecuador to illustrate how in recent years the dynamic relationship between ethnic groups and political parties in Latin American legislatures has changed and resulted in the statistical association between ethnic fractionalization and party system fragmentation that we observe. /// Este trabajo demuestra que en América Latina, una porción significativa del incremento en el nivel de fragmentación del sistema de partidos legislativo a partir de la década del ochenta se explica por la reciente incorporación polótica de poblaciones étnicas. Hasta el momento, los académicos tienden a no identificar esta relación porque no han utilizado las mediciones de fragmentación étnica dentro de las diversas poblaciones indígenas y raciales, y porque no se han concentrado en el período en el cual las poblaciones étnicas fueron incorporadas políticamente. Además de demostrar esta relación estadísticamente, utlizamos los estudios de caso de Bolivia y Ecuador para ilustrar cómo la relación dinámica entre los grupos étnicos y los partidos políticos en las legislaturas de América Latina ha cambiado en los años recientes, resultando en la asociación estadística observable entre fraccionamiento étnico y fragmentación del sistema de partidos.