Description: Nearly four decades since the onset of the third wave, political parties remain weak in Latin America: parties have collapsed in much of the region, and most new party-building efforts have failed. Why do some new parties succeed while most fail? This book challenges the widespread belief that democracy and elections naturally give rise to strong parties and argues that successful party-building is more likely to occur under conditions of intense conflict than under routine democracy. Periods of revolution, civil war, populist mobilization, or authoritarian repression crystallize partisan attachments, create incentives for organization-building, and generate a 'higher cause' that attracts committed activists. Empirically rich chapters cover diverse cases from across Latin America, including both successful and failed cases.
Brief description: Steven Levitsky is David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of Government at Harvard University, Massachusetts. He is the author of Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America: Argentine Peronism in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge, 2003), coauthor of Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War (Cambridge, 2010), and co- editor of Argentine Democracy: The Politics of Institutional Weakness (2005), Informal Institutions and Democracy: Lessons from Latin America (2006), and The Resurgence of the Latin American Left (2011). He is currently writing a book on the durability of revolutionary regimes.
Review Quotes: '[Challenges of Party Building in Latin America] enhances knowledge about conditions for successful party building in an era of great challenges to that enterprise. The authors include an attractive mix of distinguished senior scholars and excellent younger colleagues. ... Most of the chapters are very good and the best are outstanding.' Scott Mainwaring, ReVista