Building Democratic Instutitions : Party Systems in Latin America

This volume fills the need for a comprehensive, up-to-date portrait of parties and party systems in Latin America. It includes chapters on all the large and medium-sized countries, as well as those smaller countries with older democratic traiditions: Argentina, Boliva, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuaela. The book is framed by an Introduction that provides a theoretical and comparative conceptual map for charting Latin American party systems and a Conclusion that looks ahead to the challenges and trends for party building in the 1990's.

The twelve country case studies address five analytical themes: the origins of party competition, the relative strength of parties as actors within the larger political system, the relationship between major parties and the state, the importance of different electoral regimes for shaping broader patterns of party competition, and the basic nature of the party system in each country.

"This is the best book available on a very important topic. Bringing together an exciting blend of older and younger scholars, the volume presents a realistic assessment of the virtues and shortcomings of the recent democratization in Latin America. It sustains a remarkably consistent approach and an unusually high level of quality; the essays are all well conceived and well written. No other book offers a comparable amount of information or the degree of sophistication present here."—Paul W. Drake, University of California, San Diego

"This book represents a major step forward in the analysis of parties and party systems in Latin America, enriching the debate enormously. Introductory and concluding chapters by the editors make an important general arguement, raise issues for further research, and place the country cases in a coherent comparative framework. . . . The twelve country studies provide a wealth of information."—Jornal of Democracy

"...a superb book that will be of great interest to those concerned with democracy in Latin America, political parties, and Christian Democracy."—Latin American Politics and Society