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Party Elites and Leadership in Colombia and Venezuela

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

John D. Martz
John D. Martz
Affiliation:
John D. Martz is Distinguished Professor of Political Science, The Pennsylvania State University.
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Extract

‘By studying political parties we imply that the party is a meaningful unit of analysis. Yet we go above the party as a unit, for we also study the party system. By the same token we can go below the party as a unit and study, thereby, the party subunits.’1 This statement by Giovanni Sartori, while published in 1976, might well have been a beacon for budding stasiologists of the early 1960s — certainly for those with a particular interest in Latin America. Following upon such Western European—orientated classics as the works of Maurice Duverger, Sigmund Neumann and Alfred Diamant,2 there seemed genuine intellectual impetus to produce significant scholarship on the parties of what were then customarily termed either the developing or the ‘non—western’ polities. For Latin America, the time appeared ripe for conceptual progress. To be sure, there was justification in remarking that the study of parties in the region was relatively new, while ‘methodo—logical accomplishments have been primitive’.3 Yet this condition was presumably transitory.

In the years to follow there were more serious exploratory efforts, and in time a modest number of case—studies began appearing.4 When the cyclical alternation of democratic and dictatorial regimes began to swing toward the latter by the early 1970s, however, scholarly interest dropped off. More generally, stasiological research went into decline.5 For students of Latin America, only the recent trend toward democratisation has stimulated a revival of interest in parties, campaigns and elections.6 Thus Lorenzo Meyer, for instance, described parties as institutions necessary ‘to channel the energies of social movements, labour unions, and other antiauthoritarian forces present at the beginning of the re—emergence of civil society’.7

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , February 1992 , pp. 87 - 121
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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References

1 Sartori, G., Parties and Party Systems; A Framework for Analysis (Cambridge, 1976), p. 71.Google Scholar

2 Duverger, M., Political Parties (New York, 1954)Google Scholar Neumann, S., Modern Political Parties (Chicago, 1956)Google Scholar Diamant, Alfred, ‘The Relevance of Comparative Politics to the Study of Comparative Administration’, Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 5, no. 2 (June 1960), pp. 87–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 Martz, J., ‘Political Parties in Colombia and Venezuela: Contrasts in Substance and Style’, Western Political Quarterly, vol. 18, no. 2 (June 1965).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4 Theoretical overviews included Martz, , ‘Dilemmas in the Study of Latin American Political Parties’, Journal of Politics, vol. 26, no. 3 (Aug. 1964), pp. 509–532CrossRefGoogle Scholar McDonald, Ronald, Party Systems and Elections in Latin America (Chicago, 1971)Google Scholar Ranis, Peter, ‘A Two-Dimensional Typology of Latin American Parties’, Journal of Politics, vol. 30. no. 4 (Nov. 1968), pp. 798–832CrossRefGoogle Scholar; also Scott, R., ‘Political Parties and Policy-Making in Latin America’, in Lapalombara, J. and Weiner, M. (eds.), Political Parties and Political Development (Princeton, 1966), pp. 331–368.Google Scholar Examples of specific case studies were English, B., Liberación Nacional in Costa Rica (Gainesville, 1971)Google Scholar Hilliker, G., The Politics of Reform in Peru: The Aprista and Other Mass Parties of Latin America (Baltimore, 1971)Google Scholar Kantor, H., The Ideology and Program of the Peruvian Aprista Movement (New York, 1966)Google Scholar Martz, J., Acción Democrática; Evolution of a Modern Political Party in Venezuela (Princeton, 1966)CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Williams, E., Latin American Christian Democratic Parties (Knoxville, 1967).Google Scholar

5 Epstein, Leon outlines the conditions and circumstances in his ‘Political Parties’, in Greenstein, Fred and Polsby, Nelson (eds.), Handbook of Political Science, vol. 4, Nongovernmental Politics (Reading, 1975).Google Scholar Also see Epstein, , ‘The Scholarly Commitment to Parties’, in Finifter, Ada (ed.), Political Science; The State of the Discipline (Washington, 1983), pp. 127–155.Google Scholar

6 Among recent examples is Drake, Paul and Silva, Eduardo (eds.), Elections and Democratization in Latin America, 1980–1985 (San Diego, 1986)Google Scholar, a rather disparate collection of colloquium papers which includes both outstanding and undistinguished contributions.

7 Meyer, Lorenzo, ‘Democracy from Three Latin American Perspectives’, in Pastor, Robert (ed.), Democracy in the Americas; Stopping the Pendulum (New York, 1989), p. 34.Google Scholar

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11 See the concluding chapter of Neumann, Sigmund (ed.), Modern Political Parties; Approaches to Comparative Politics (Chicago, 1956).Google Scholar

12 An excellent statement on the so-called catch-all parties is Otto Kirchheimer, ‘The Transformation of Western European Party Systems’, in LaPalombara and Weiner, pp. 177–200. For a prime example of catch-all parties in Latin America see waring, Scott Main, ‘Political Parties and Democratization in Brazil and the Southern Cone’, Comparative Politics, vol. 20, no. 3 (Oct. 1988), pp. 91–120.Google Scholar

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15 Dix cogently develops this perspective in his Dix, ‘Consociational Democracy: The Case of Colombia’, Comparative Politics, vol. 12, no. 5 (April 1980), pp. 303–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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20 For a superb biography see Sharpless, R., Gaitán of Colombia; A Political Biography (Pittsburgh, 1978).Google Scholar

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25 Gibson, E., ‘Venezuela (1945–1948)’, in Pastor, , Democracy in the Americas, p. 162.Google Scholar

26 This was reiterated at length in Betancourt's classic Venezuela; polítical y petróleo, 2nd edn. (Caracas, 1967).Google Scholar

27 Oesterling, J., Democracy in Colombia; Clientelist Politics and Guerrilla Warfare (New Brunswick, 1989), p. 162.Google Scholar

28 Boeker, P., Lost Illusions; Latin America's Struggle for Democracy, as Recounted by its Leaders (New York, 1990), p. 221.Google Scholar

29 Ibid., p. 233.

30 For a characteristic statement see Galán, L., Nueva Colombia (Bogotá, 1982).Google Scholar Representative proposals may be found in Liberalismo, Nuevo, 1984–1986; Programa del Nuevo Liberalismo para Bogotá (Bogotá, 1986).Google Scholar Typical of broader political interpretations sympathetic to new reformist elements within the prevailing system is Ballén, R., Liberalismo boy; opción de cambio o agónica supervivencia (Bogotá, 1985).Google Scholar

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32 Ogliastri, E., ‘Liberales Conservadores versus Conservadores Liberates’, Paper presented to the Latin American Studies Association, Albuquerque, NM, October 1983, p. 16.Google Scholar

33 Among his various publications see Hoskin, Gary, ‘Belief Systems of Colombian Political Party Activists’, Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs, vol. 21, no. 4 (Nov. 1979), pp. 481–504CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Hoskin, , ‘Dimensiones de Conflicto’, in Hoskin, et al. (ed.), Estudio del Comportamiento Legislativo (Bogotá, 1975).Google Scholar

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35 For an excellent collection of essays on the 1986 national elections, accompanied by useful data, see Colombia en las urnas; que pasó en 1986? (Bogotá, 1987).Google Scholar

36 A stimulating set of essays by a leading authority on Colombian politics, published shortly before the 1986 elections, is Latorre, M., Hechos y crítica politica (Bogotá, 1986).Google Scholar

37 Contrasting strands intertwined through the Liberal party over the past two decades are outlined in a series of proposals and resolutions collected as Encuentros y foros del liberalismo (Bogotá, 1988).Google Scholar

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39 Two Liberal foundations have been created: the Instituto de Estudios Liberates and the Fundación para la Preservación y Defense de la Democracia Colombiana (FEDEMOCRATICA). Conservative-party organisations dedicated to political research are the Fundación Simón Bolívar, identified with former president Pastrana, and the Fundación para el Desarrollo de los Recursos Humanos, affiliated with the Ospina family.

40 The origins of the party and its evolution until the mid-1960s are analysed at length in Martz, J., Acción Democrática; Evolution of a Modern Political Party in Venezuela (Princeton, 1966).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

41 A standard source on COPEI is Herman, D., Christian Democracy in Venezuela (Chapel Hill, 1980).Google Scholar

42 The most detailed account is found in Martz, J. and Baloyra, E., Electoral Mobilization and Public Opinion; The Venezuelan Campaign of 1973 (Chapel Hill, 1976).Google Scholar

43 For an ideological overview concerning COPEI, see Jortín, M. and Martz, J., Latin American Political Thought and Ideology (Chapel Hill, 1970). ch. 13.Google Scholar

44 Among the many writings of the founder of Venezuelan Christian democracy, see Caldera, R.'s Moldes para la fragua (Caracas, 1962)Google Scholar; and Caldera, R. Ideario: la democracia cristiana en América Latina (Barcelona, 1970).Google Scholar

45 See the discussion in Ellner, Steve, ‘Inter-Party Agreement and Rivalry’, Studies in Comparative International Development, vol. 19, no. 4 (winter 1984–1985), pp. 54–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

46 Kline, , ‘From Rural to Urban Society: The Transformation of Colombian Democracy’, in Herman, Democracy in Latin America, p. 25.Google Scholar

47 See the bibliographic reference to scholarly characterisations of the Colombian political system in Bagley, Bruce, ‘Colombia: National Front and Economic Development’, in Wesson, Robert (ed.), Politics, Policies, and Economic Development (Stanford, 1984), pp. 125–126.Google Scholar

48 See the discussion in Martz, John, ‘Colombia's Search for Peace’, Current History, vol. 88, no. 536 (March 1989), 125–129, 145–147.Google Scholar

49 Useful sources include Castro, J., Eleccín popular de alcalde (Bogotá, 1986)Google Scholar, and the multiauthored Reformas political; apertura democrática, edición preparada por Cristina de la Torre (Bogotá, 1985).Google Scholar A relevant statement from the recent president is Barco, V., Diálogo democrático: ni begemonia, ni sectarismo (Bogotá, 1987).Google Scholar

50 On 13 March 1988 the Liberals won 427 mayoral positions with 2,994,594 votes. The Social Conservatives captured 416 offices with 2,191,254 votes. The communists’ Unión Patriótica won only 14 seats. Although election day itself was relatively peaceful, during the six previous months 29 of the UP's mayoral candidates and over 100 aspirants to municipal councils had been killed. For a legalistic review of electoral procedures, see Becerra, A. Hemández, Las elecciones en Colombia (análisis jurídico-político) (San José, 1986).Google Scholar An informative guide for the Colombian votes is Cepeda, M., Cómo son las elecciones en Colombia (Bogotá, 1986).Google Scholar

51 Sánchez, Gonzalo, ‘La Violencia in Colombia: new research, new questions’, Hispanic American Historical Review, vol. 65, no. 4 (Nov. 1985), p. 796.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

52 Oesterling, , Democracy in Colombia, p. 178.Google Scholar

53 Ibid., p. 182.

54 El Espectador and La República, 4.5 August 1986.Google Scholar

55 The powerful factional leader Bertha Hernández de Ospina, widow of former president Mariano Ospina Pérez, noted publicly that the Directorate was composed of ‘the same people with the same ideas’. See La República, 4 August 1986.Google Scholar

56 Duverger, M., Political Parties (New York, 1955), especially pp. xxiii–xxxvii.Google Scholar

57 Dix, R., The Politics of Colombia (New York, 1987), p. 89.Google Scholar

58 Ibid. An excellent treatment of Colombian parties as electoral agents is Latotre, M., Elecciones y partidos políticos en Colombia (Bogotá, 1974).Google Scholar

59 See Kline, , ‘From Rural to Urban Society’.Google Scholar

60 An excellent treatment is Rodriguez, G. Hernández, La Alternación ante el Pueblo (Bogotá, 1962), p. 168.Google Scholar

61 Dix, , The Politics of Colombia, p. 92.Google Scholar

62 Buitrago, F. Leal, Estado y político en Colombia (Bogotá, 1984), p. 160.Google Scholar

63 Oesterling, , Democracy, p. 159.Google Scholar

64 For example, Martz, John, ‘The Malaise of Venezuelan Political Parties: Is Democracy Endangered?’, in Herman, , Democracy in Latin America, pp. 155–175.Google Scholar

65 The most detailed treatment is Martz, and Baloyra, , Electoral Mobilization and Public Opinion.Google Scholar

66 An authoritative treatment is Ellner, S., Venezuela's Movimiento al Socialismo; From Guerrilla Defeat to Innovative Politics (Durham, 1988).Google Scholar

67 This pattern was broken by the December 1988 electoral victory of former president Carlos Andrés Pérez, who succeeded his fellow Acción Democrática member, Jaime Lusinchi.

68 An excellent discussion and rationalisation by a leader of COPEI's rising younger generation is Briceño, G. Tarre, Carta abierta a los copeyanos (que puede ser leída por quienes no lo son), 2nd edn. (Caracas, 1990).Google Scholar For a thoughtful treatment by an informed student of COPEI, see Lares, R. Combellas, COPEI: ideología y liderazgo (Caracas, 1985).Google Scholar The official party statement is found in Partido Social-Cristiano COPEI, Bases programáticas (Caracas, 1987).Google Scholar

69 Note that in 1968 Rafael Caldera won with less than 30% of the vote. Despite occasional discussions of a second-round run-off, Venezuela has chosen not to adopt this arrangement.

70 Beginning in 1978, local elections for district councils were held separately from the other races. Thus the first such elections in more than thirty years were held on 3 June 1979, and were held five years later on 27 May 1984. More detailed analysis is Martínez, Ildemaro, ‘Venezuelan Local Government’, in Martz, and Myers, David (eds.), Venezuela; The Democratic Experience, 2nd edn. (New York, 1986), pp. 584–602.Google Scholar

71 This was detailed at length in Martz, , Acción Democrática.Google Scholar

72 See Myers, David J., ‘Party Democracy and the Technological Elite: Venezuelan Professionals and Technicians’, Papers presented to the Latin American Studies Association convention in New Orleans, LA., March 1988.Google Scholar

73 An illustrative party document setting forth such matters is Democrática, Acción, Estatutos (Caracas, 1986).Google Scholar Even more detailed and specialised provisions are adopted for electoral campaigns. Thus, see Democrática, Acción, Reglamento interior de los organismos de dirección de la campaña electoral correspondiente a 1988 (Caracas, 1988).Google Scholar

74 For the classic source see Michels, R., Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy (Chicago, 1962).Google Scholar For an elaboration dealing with the selection of presidential nominees, see Coppedge, Michael, ‘Presidents and Factions in Venezuela’, Paper prepared for the XV LASA meeting, September 1989.Google Scholar

75 The texts of legislative proposals first offered and debated in 1980 and 1981 are found in Mejía, A. Tirado, Decentralización y centratismo en Colombia (Bogotá, 1983).Google Scholar

76 In addition to the volumes of Jaime Castro already cited, see the treatment of apertura in Santamaría, R. and Silva, G., Proceso politico en Colombia; del Frente Nacional a la apertura democrática (Bogotá, 1984).Google Scholar

77 Hoskin, Gary, ‘Colombian Political Parties and Electoral Behavior During the Post-National Front Period’, in Herman, , Democracy in Latin America, p. 61.Google Scholar

78 Barco is quoted in Boeker, , Lost Illusions, p. 198.Google Scholar

79 See the discussion of Rey, J. in his El futuro de la democracia en Venezuela (Caracas, 1989).Google Scholar

80 Comisión Presidencial para la Reforma del Estado, La reforma del estado (Caracas, 1988).Google Scholar

81 Extensive papers and presentations on the topic were held at the Latin American Program of the Woodrow Wilson Center in June 1990, which the author attended. A basic statement by the President of COPRE is Blanco, C., La reforma del estado en la perspectiva latinoamericana.Google Scholar

82 The literature of political clientelism in Colombia is extensive. For a thoughtful and representative work, see Losada, R., Clientelismo y elecciones (Bogotá, 1984).Google Scholar Also see two important new publications on the subject: Leal, F. and Davila, A., Clientelismo; el sistema politico y su expresión regional (Bogotá, 1991)Google Scholar; and Leal, F. and Zamosc, L. (eds.), Al filo del caos; crisis político en la Colombia de los años 80 (Bogotá, 1991).Google Scholar

83 A pair of journalistic analyses which provides an informative if informal perspective was recently published in Pérez, Hesper, Proceso del bipartidismo colombiano y Frente Nacional (Bogotá, 1989).Google Scholar

84 Neumann, , Modern Political Parties, p. 396.Google Scholar