James Loxton

Voice and Inequality is about conservative parties in Latin America. James Loxton examines parties formed between 1978 and 2010 and tries to understand why some were more successful than others. The main puzzle is the surprising connection between roots in dictatorship and success under democracy. What allowed "authoritarian successor parties" in countries like Chile and El Salvador to succeed, while those with more democratic origins in countries likeArgentina and Guatemala failed? It argues that this was not a coincidence: the former inherited valuable resources from the old regime that helped them to thrive in the new.

Authoritarian Inheritance and Counterrevolutionary Struggle

Conservative Party-Building in Latin America

Scott Mainwaring

Life after Dictatorship launches a new research agenda on authoritarian successor parties worldwide. Authoritarian successor parties are parties that emerge from authoritarian regimes, but that operate after a transition to democracy. They are one of the most common but overlooked features of the global democratic landscape. They are major actors in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, and they have been voted back into office in over one-half of all third-wave democracies. This book presents a new set of terms, definitions, and research questions designed to travel across regions, and presents new data on these parties' prevalence and frequent return to power. With chapters from leading Africanists, Asianists, Europeanists, and Latin Americanists, it asks: why are authoritarian successor parties so common? Why are some more successful than others? And in what ways can they harm - or help - democracy?

Authoritarian Successor Parties Worldwide

Life after Dictatorship

Steven Levitsky

Jorge I. Domínguez

Brandon Van Dyck

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 crystalize 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.

James Loxton

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