The Colombian Liberal Party and Conservative Party: From Political Parties to Diminished Subtypes

Laura Wills-Otero, Bibiana Ortega , Viviana Sarmiento

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

The Paraguayan party system, centered on two 132-year-old parties seemingly poised to remain alive and well for years to come, constitutes an anomaly in Latin America. This chapter discusses the evolution of the Paraguayan traditional parties highlighting their changes and continuities in two different historical settings: the nondemocratic period, which includes a semi-competitive (1870–1940) and a dictatorial subperiod (1954–89) and the post-1989 democratic period. The findings point to three distinctive features of the Paraguayan party system: the ability of the traditional parties to plant deep roots into the country’s social structure facilitated by historic and institutional factors; the capacity of the parties to aggregate in a clientelist mode the interests of a population that lacks strong collective actors, made possible by a socioeconomic societal matrix; and the versatility with which parties have coordinated interests, both in semi-democratic as well as in democratic settings, which includes electoral mobilization but also civilian recruitment for armed uprisings. Finally, the chapter discusses possible future trends in light of the growing influence of illegal financing and recent changes to the rules governing elections mandating the system of “open lists.”
Translated title of the contributionEl Partido Liberal Colombiano y el Partido Conservador. De partidos políticos a subtipos disminuidos
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationDiminished Parties
Subtitle of host publicationDemocratic Representation in Contemporary Latin America
EditorsJuan Pablo Luna, Rafael Piñeiro Rodríguez, Fernando Rosenblatt, Gabriel Vommaro
PublisherCambridge University Press
Chapter8
Pages151-172
Number of pages21
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2021

Keywords

  • Colombia
  • Partido Liberal
  • Partido Conservador
  • party decay
  • independents
  • uncoordinated party

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