Description
Book SynopsisThis book provides an in-depth look into key political dynamics that obtain in a democracy without parties, offering a window into political undercurrents increasingly in evidence throughout the Latin American region, where political parties are withering. For the past three decades, Peru has showcased a political universe populated by amateur politicians and the dominance of personalism as the main party–voter linkage form. The study peruses the post-2000 evolution of some of the key Peruvian electoral vehicles and classifies the partisan universe as a party non-system. There are several elements endogenous to personalist electoral vehicles that perpetuate partylessness, contributing to the absence of party building. The book also examines electoral dynamics in partyless settings, centrally shaped by effective electoral supply, personal brands, contingency, and iterated rounds of strategic voting calculi. Given the scarcity of information electoral vehicles provide, as well as the enormously complex political environment Peruvian citizens inhabit, personal brands provide readymade informational shortcuts that simplify the political world. The concept of “negative legitimacy environments” is furnished to capture political settings comprised of supermajorities of floating voters, pervasive negative political identities, and a generic citizen preference for newcomers and political outsiders. Such environments, increasingly present throughout Latin America, produce several deleterious effects, including high political uncertainty, incumbency disadvantage, and political time compression. Peru’s “democracy without parties” fails to deliver essential democratic functions including governability, responsiveness, horizontal and vertical accountability, or democratic representation, among others.
Table of Contents1. Introduction: Latin America's Party System Trends
1.1 Party system deinstitutionalization1.2 Party system collapses and post-collapse dynamics1.3 Regime-level consequences
2. Peru's Parties: Autonomy, Coherence and Social Rootedness
2.1 Introduction2.2 The Fate of Traditional Parties in Post-Fujimori Peru2.2.1 APRA 2.2.1.1 Autonomy 2.2.1.2 Coherence,2.2.1.3 Social rootedness2.2.2 The Right and Center Right: Partido Popular Crisitano and Accion Popular2.2.3 The Fractured Left2.3 The Taxi Parties of the Post Fujimorato Period2.3.1 Peru Posible2.3.2 Fujimorismo2.3.2.1 A real Party?2.3.2.2 Autonomy, coherence and social rootedness2.3.2.3 The future of Fujimorismo 2.3.3 Partido Nacionalista Peruano2.3.3.1 Autonomy 2.3.3.2 Coherence2.3.3.3 Social rootedness2.4 Conclusion
3. Peru's Party Non-System: Traits and Dynamics
3.1 Introduction3.2 What is a Party Non-System?3.3 Why Pery qualifies as a Party Non-System3.3.1 Persistently high extra-systemic volatility3.3.2 Absence of Systemic Parties3.4 Electoral Dynamics of Peru’s Non System3.4.1 Absence of Programmatic Structuration3.4.2 Personalistic party-voter linkages3.5 The Primacy of Party Supply over Demand3.6 The Importance of Strategic Voting3.7 Prospects for Party System Reconstruction3.8 Conclusion
4. Conclusions
