Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T00:28:01.021Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

External Appeal, Internal Dominance: How Party Leaders Contribute to Successful Party Building

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2018

Brandon Van Dyck
Brandon Van Dyck*
Affiliation:
Assistant professor in the Department of Government and Law at Lafayette College
*
[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Many successful political parties depend for their initial popularity and cohesion, and even for their long-term brand strength, on a leader. Nevertheless, literature on successful party building downplays the role of leaders. Thus, the question, what type of leader is good for party building?, remains undertheorized. This article presents and provides initial evidence for a leadership-centered theory of successful party building. It argues that externally appealing, internally dominant leaders facilitate party building by lifting new parties to electoral prominence and helping to prevent debilitating schisms. The article provides evidence for this argument through a most similar cases comparison of three new left parties in Latin America: two that took root (Brazil’s Workers’ Party, Mexico’s Party of the Democratic Revolution), and one that collapsed (Peru’s United Left).

Keywords

Political partiesleadershiptheory constructionLatin America
Type
Research
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 60 , Issue 1 , February 2018 , pp. 1 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 University of Miami 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adrianzén, Alberto, ed. 2011. Apogeo y crisis de la izquierda peruana: hablan sus protagonistas. Stockholm: IDEA.Google Scholar
Ansell, Christopher, and Fish, Steven. 1999. The Art of Being Indispensable: Noncharismatic Personalism in Contemporary Political Parties. Comparative Political Studies 32, 3: 283–312.Google Scholar
Art, David, and de Lange, Sarah. 2011. Wilders versus Fortuyn: An Agency Approach to Populist Party Building. West European Politics 34, 6: 1229–1249.Google Scholar
Betto, Frei. 2010. PT member. Author interview. São Paulo, March 3.Google Scholar
Borjas, Adriana. 2003. Partido de la Revolución Democrática: estructura, organización interna y desempeño público, 1989–2003. Mexico City: Ediciones Guernika.Google Scholar
Bruhn, Kathleen. 1997. Taking on Goliath: The Emergence of a New Left Party and the Struggle for Democracy in Mexico. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Buxton, Julia. 2001. The Failure of Political Reform in Venezuela. Farnham: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Cameron, Maxwell. 1994. Democracy and Authoritarianism in Peru: Political Coalitions and Social Change. New York: St. Martin’s Press.Google Scholar
Chhibber, Pradeep. 2011. Dynastic Parties: Organization, Finance, and Impact. Party Politics 9, 2: 1–19.Google Scholar
Crisp, Brian, and Levine, Daniel. 1998. Democratizing the Democracy? Crisis and Reform in Venezuela. Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 40, 2: 27–61.Google Scholar
De Azevedo, Clovis. 1995. A estrela partida ao meio: ambiguedades do pensamento petista. São Paulo: Entrelinhas.Google Scholar
Díez Canseco, Javier. 2011. IU member. Author interview. Lima, January 6.Google Scholar
Donato, Antônio. 2010. PT member. Author interview. São Paulo, May 4.Google Scholar
Gonzales, Osmar. 2011. La izquierda peruana: una estructura ausente. In Adrianzén, 2011. 15–43.Google Scholar
Greene, Kenneth. 2007. Why Dominant Parties Lose: Mexico’s Democratization in Comparative Perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harmel, Robert, and Svåsand, Lars. 1993. Party Leadership and Party Institutionalisation: Three Phases of Development. West European Politics 16, 2: 67–88.Google Scholar
Herrera, Guillermo. 2002. Izquierda Unida y el Partido Comunista. Lima: Termil.Google Scholar
Hidalgo, Javier. 2011. PRD member. Author interview. Mexico City, August 4.Google Scholar
Hunter, Wendy. 2010. The Transformation of the Workers’ Party in Brazil, 1989–2009. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Keck, Margaret. 1992. The Workers’ Party and Democratization in Brazil. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Lajous, André. 2011. Mexican journalist. Author interview. Mexico City, July 15.Google Scholar
Lawson, Chappell, et al. 2001. The Mexico 2000 Panel Study. http://mexicopanelstudy.mit.edu. Accessed December 16, 2014.Google Scholar
Lawson, Chappell, et al. 2002. Building the Fourth Estate: Democratization and the Rise of a Free Press in Mexico. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Levitsky, Steven, and Cameron, Maxwell. 2003. Democracy Wthout Parties? Political Parties and Regime Change in Fujimori’s Peru. Latin American Politics and Society 45, 3: 1–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levitsky, Steven, Loxton, James, and Van Dyck, Brandon. Introduction: Challenges of Party-Building in Latin America. In Challenges of Party-Building in Latin America, ed. Levitsky, Loxton, Van Dyck, and Jorge Domínguez. New York: Cambridge University Press. 1–48.Google Scholar
López Maya, Margarita. 2005. Del viernes negro al referendo revocatorio. Caracas: Alfadil.Google Scholar
Lupu, Noam. 2016. Party Brands in Crisis: Partisanship, Brand Dilution, and the Breakdown of Political Parties in Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mainwaring, Scott, and Scully, Timothy. 1995. Introduction: Party Systems in Latin America. In Building Democratic Institutions: Party Systems in Latin America, ed. Mainwaring and Scully. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 1–34.Google Scholar
Martínez, Victor. 2005. Fisiones y fusiones, divorcios y reconciliaciones: la dirigencia del PRD, 1989–2004. Mexico City: Plaza y Valdés.Google Scholar
McCaughan, Michael. 1998. The Battle of Venezuela. New York: Seven Stories Press.Google Scholar
Mossige, Dag. 2013. Mexico’s Left: The Paradox of PRD. Boulder: First Forum Press.Google Scholar
Nogueira-Budny, Daniel. 2014. Great Promise, but Poor Performance: Understanding the Collapse of Venezuela’s Causa Radical. Journal of Politics in Latin America 6, 1: 109–136.Google Scholar
Panebianco, Angelo. 1988. Political Parties: Organization and Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Panfichi, Aldo. 2010. IU member. Author interview. Lima, December 27.Google Scholar
Pease, Henry. 2010, 2011. IU member. Author interviews. Lima, December 21, 2010, January 13, 2011.Google Scholar
Pedahzur, Ami, and Brichta, Avraham. 2002. The Institutionalization of Extreme Right-Wing Charismatic Parties: A Paradox. Party Politics 8, 1: 31–49.Google Scholar
Pedraglio, Santiago. 2011. IU member. Author interview. Lima, January 10.Google Scholar
Pereira, Hamilton. 2008. Interview. In Muitos caminhos, uma estrela: memórias de militantes do PT, ed. Marieta de Moraes and Alexandre Fortes. São Paulo: Fundação Perseu Abramo. 237–283.Google Scholar
Prud’homme, Jean. 1996. El PRD: su vida interna y sus elecciones estratégicas. Documento de trabajo 39. México: Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas.Google Scholar
Prud’homme, Jean. 2003. El Partido de la Revolución Democrática: las ambivalencias de su proceso de institucionalización. Foro Internacional 171: 103–140.Google Scholar
Ribeiro, Pedro. 2010. Dos sindicatos ao governo: a organização nacional do PT de 1980 a 2005. São Carlos: Editora da Universidade Federal de São Carlos.Google Scholar
Ribeiro, Pedro. 2012. Brazilian political scientist. Author interviews. Email, April 8, 15.Google Scholar
Roberts, Kenneth. 1998. Deepening Democracy? The Modern Left and Social Movements in Chile and Peru.. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Roberts, Kenneth. 2016. Historical Timing, Political Cleavages, and Party Building in Latin America. In Challenges of Party Building in Latin America, ed. Steve Levitsky, James Loxton, Brandon Van Dyck, and Jorge I. Domínguez. New York: Cambridge University Press. 51–75.Google Scholar
Rodríguez, Tania. 2010. Estrategias políticas, desafíos organizacionales y campañas presidenciales en democracias emergentes: los casos del PT y del PRD. Ph.D. diss., Sociological Studies, El Colegio de México.Google Scholar
Samuels, David. 2004. From Socialism to Social Democracy: Party Organization and the Transformation of Brazil’s PT. Comparative Political Studies 37, 9: 999–1024.Google Scholar
Samuels, David, and Shugart, Matthew. 2010. Presidents, Parties, and Prime Ministers: How the Separation of Powers Affects Party Organization and Behavior. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Seawright, Jason, and Gerring, John. 2008. Case Selection Techniques in Case Study Research. Political Research Quarterly 61, 2: 294–308.Google Scholar
Secco, Lincoln. 2010. PT member and historian. Author interview. São Paulo, April.Google Scholar
Secco, Lincoln. 2011. História do PT (1978–2010). São Paulo: Ateliê Editorial).Google Scholar
Somuano, Fernanda. 2011. Mexican political scientist. Author interview. Mexico City, June 9.Google Scholar
Tanaka, Martín. 1998. Los espejismos de la democracia. El colapso del sistema de partidos en el Perú. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos.Google Scholar
Tanaka, Martín. 2011. IU scholar. Author interview. Lima, January 13.Google Scholar
Tavits, Margit. 2013. Post-Communist Democracies and Party Organization. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, Lewis. 1990. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: The Peruvian Izquierda Unida, 1980–90. Joumal of Communist Studies 6, 3: 108–119.Google Scholar
Tuesta, Fernando. 1987. ¿Era Barrantes imprescindible? La República (Lima), June 3.Google Scholar
Weber, Max. 1965. Politics as a Vocation. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.Google Scholar
Weyland, Kurt. 1999. Neoliberal Populism in Latin America and Eastern Europe. Comparative Politics 31, 4: 379–401.Google Scholar