Abstract

CAICEDO ORTIZ, Julián Andrés. STABILITY AND CRISIS OF REPRESENTATION IN THE LATIN AMERICAN PARTY SYSTEMS: IS THIS THE TRIUMPH OF VOTING PARTICIPATION?. rev.relac.int.estrateg.segur. [online]. 2013, vol.8, n.1, pp.161-188. ISSN 1909-3063.

This article analyzes the institutional transformations of the Latin American party systems over a period of 40 years. In the first place, we propose an interpretation of the importance of the parties, their system and relationship with procedural democracy. In second place, we refer to the political reforms that generated stability among the pertinent actors (parties, movements, elites) and in the various systems. Finally, we contrast this process with the scenario of electoral participation. We will show that the institutional transformations of the party systems guarantee plurality and political stability which, however, do not strengthen the relations between institutions and citizenship, indicating in turn, a crisis of representation, in spite that some countries have adopted the mandatory vote as a guarantee of procedural democracy. Also, we contend that these two processes are not mutually exclusive and that stability is not directly related with electoral participation.

Keywords : Party system; crisis of representation; political stability; voter absenteeism; Latin America.

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