From party systems to party organizations: the adaptation of Latin American parties to changing environments

Abstract

Review Article: 1. Alcántara Sáez, Manuel (ed.): Politicians and Politics in Latin America, Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers 2008. 2. Greene, Kenneth F.: Why Dominant Parties Lose. Mexico's Democratization in Comparative Perspective, New York: Cambridge University Press 2007. 3. Levitsky, Steven: Transforming Labor-based Parties in Latin America: Argentine Peronism in Comparative Perspective, New York: Cambridge University Press 2003. The study of party systems and political parties is one of the largest subfields in political science. Classic studies in advanced democracies focused primarily on party systems and developed theories about the causes and consequences of different types of systems. In recent years, new academic work begun to differentiate parties within systems by understanding their organizational structure, their internal dynamics, the different ways in which they interact with their constituencies, and the strategies that they use to attract voters. Studies show that parties within the same system behave and react differently given their internal conditions. This article reviews three scholarly books that deal with this issue. The works analyze the internal dynamics of Latin American political parties and their capacity to respond and adapt their structures when environmental challenges take place.

Review Article: 1. Alcántara Sáez, Manuel (ed.): Politicians and Politics in Latin America, Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers 2008. 2. Greene, Kenneth F.: Why Dominant Parties Lose. Mexico’s Democratization in Comparative Perspective, New York: Cambridge University Press 2007. 3. Levitsky, Steven: Transforming Labor-based Parties in Latin America: Argentine Peronism in Comparative Perspective, New York: Cambridge University Press 2003. El estudio de los sistemas de partidos y partidos políticos es una de las áreas más amplias en la ciencia política. Trabajos clásicos llevados a cabo en democracias avanzadas, enfocaron su atención en sistemas de partidos y desarrollaron teorías sobre las causas y consecuencias producidas por diferentes tipos de sistemas. En años recientes, nuevos trabajos académicos empezaron a diferenciar a los partidos dentro de los sistemas estudiando su estructura organizacional, las dinámicas internas, las diferentes maneras en que interactúan con sus representados, y las estrategias que emplean para atraer votantes. Estudios muestran que en un mismo sistema, los partidos se comportan y reaccionan de manera diferente dadas sus propias condiciones internas. Este articulo reseña tres libros que tratan este aspecto. Los trabajos analizan las dinámicas internas de partidos políticos latinoamericanos y su capacidad para responder y adaptar sus estructuras particularmente cuando se presentan cambios en el contexto.