Party Vibrancy and Democracy in Latin America

Abstract

How do political parties remain vibrant organizations? This qualitative study of political parties in Chile, Costa Rica, and Uruguay explains how party vibrancy is maintained and reproduced over time. A vibrant party is an active organization that operates beyond electoral cycles, has clear symbols, and maintains a significant presence in the territory. The study identifies the complex interaction between four causal factors that account for the reproduction of party vibrancy: Purpose, Trauma, Channels of Ambition, and moderate Exit Barriers. Purpose activates retrospective loyalty among members. Trauma refers to a shared traumatic past that engenders retrospective loyalty. Channels of Ambition are routes by which individuals can pursue a political career. Moderate Exit Barriers are rules that set costs of defection at reasonable levels. The case studies suggest that, after a process of consolidation and stability, the presence of the four causal factors explains party vibrancy. The presence of the factors then sustains the reproduction of this vibrancy over time. The four causal factors are observed during a party’s “golden age.” Vibrant parties are resilient. Yet the study also shows that the ability of Trauma to forge loyalty decreases over time and that the long-term reproduction of Purpose can be elusive, as has been shown in Latin America. Older vibrant parties thus exhibit a combination of only Channels of Ambition and moderate Exit Barriers, and are less resilient than those that also have Purpose and/or Trauma.

Political parties, diminished subtypes, and democracy

“…the PSCh in Chile). Studies of adaptation and party collapse provide accounts of this phenomenon (Levitsky, 2003; Lupu, 2016), while recent works have analyzed the factors that determine political organizations’ degree of vibrancy over time (Rosenblatt, 2018).…”

“…This type of vehicle fails to build effective channels for aggregating collective interests. These are usually traditional electoral labels, such as the Partido do Movimento Democrático Brasileiro (Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement, PMDB) in Brazil, the Partido por la Democracia (Party for Democracy, PPD) in Chile (Luna, 2014; Rosenblatt, 2018), activated during election season. However, the reference to a unified electoral list reflects an alliance between individual ambitious political leaders rather than the existence of a political party.…”

“…There is a recent body of research that has sought to unpack the black box of party organizations (Anria, 2018; Bolleyer and Ruth, 2018; Calvo and Murillo, 2019; Cyr, 2017; Levitsky et al, 2016; Luna, 2014; Madrid, 2012; Pérez Bentancur et al, 2020; Rosenblatt, 2018; Vommaro and Morresi, 2015). Notwithstanding this renewed interest in the study of party organizations in Latin America, there remains a significant lack of theorized mechanisms and attributes of the concept of political party that connect parties to democratic representation.…”

Abrupt and Gradual Realignments: The Case of Costa Rica, 1958–2018

“…The implementation of pro-market reforms led to a programmatic convergence between the leftist PLN and rightist PUSC (Roberts, 2014). By the late 1990s, as the economic policies resulted in growing discontent with the PLN and PSUC, a crisis of representation became evident (Rosenblatt, 2018). As Appendix 1 shows, there was an eleven-point drop in voter turnout in the 1998 elections.…”

Uruguay 2019: Fin del ciclo progresista y reestructura del sistema de partidos

“…Sin embargo, la ley estipula que cuando un candidato no supera el 40% con un margen de 10% sobre el segundo, la Convención se transforma en un Colegio Elector pudiendo elegir a cualquiera de los precandidatos que compitieron. toral y la ascendencia partidaria de la tríada compuesta por Tabaré Vázquez, José Mujica y Danilo Astori 19 había dificultado la renovación en ciclos previos (Rosenblatt 2018). Con estos tres líderes pasando los ochenta años, quienes compitieron por la candidatura presidencial del FA fueron Daniel Martínez (socialista), Carolina Cosse (afín al MPP, sector del expresidente José Mujica), Oscar Andrade (Partido Comunista) y Mario Bergara (con el apoyo de sectores que antes habían apoyado a Danilo Astori).…”