Political Parties, Diminished Sub-types and Democracy

• In Event: Partidos políticos, subtipos disminuidos y democracia en América Latina (parte I)

Abstract

There is a resurgence in the interest of political parties in Latin America. This resurgent interest consolidated the idea of the minimalist definition of political parties. Any group that competes in elections and gets a handful of votes is labeled as a party. At the same times, it is expected that parties contribute to democratic representation. Yet, many “parties” do not fulfill such expectation. Minimalist definitions (i.e. Aldrich 1995, Sartori 1976) seem to be stretched against reality (i.e. the proliferation of electoral vehicles that are not/do not function as parties). The weak conceptualization of diminished subtypes weakens the analytical value of the study of party organizations and other forms of electoral political organization. In this paper we suggest a new typology of electoral vehicles by combining two main attributes: horizontal coordination of ambitious politicians (in campaign and in office), and vertical aggregation (to electorally mobilize collective interests and to intermediate and channel collective demands).

Authors

• Rafael Piñeiro, Universidad Católica del Uruguay

• Fernando Rosenblatt, Universidad Diego Portales