1. Introduction; 2. Political parties and their resources; 3. Explaining the fates of parties; 4. The resource wealth of parties after party-system collapse: the empirical record in the Andes; 5. Survival and revival in an atomized party system: Peru after 1992; 6. Survival and revival in a regionalized party system: Venezuela after 1998; 7. The difficulties of survival and revival in a hyper-fluid party system: Bolivia after 2005; 8. Conclusion: resources and the fates of parties.
This book shows how political parties in Latin America can survive and even revive after electoral crises.
Jennifer Cyr is Assistant Professor of Political Science and Latin American studies at the University of Arizona. Her research focuses on political representation, identity, and democratization in Latin America.
'Why do some established parties survive or reinvent themselves
while other parties disappear when party systems collapse? The
Fates of Political Parties provides a compelling explanation to
this important but understudied question. Jennifer Cyr carefully
shows how high-cost organizational and ideational resources, such
as party branches, militants, ideologies, and brands, shape the
destiny of parties in crisis contexts. Rigorously argued and
exhaustively researched, this book should be the starting point for
future research on party survival. It is essential reading not only
for scholars specializing in Latin American politics, but for
anyone interested in understanding why some parties persist.' Raúl
L. Madrid, University of Texas, Austin
'The Fates of Political Parties is an impressive and highly topical
study of what happens to parties when a party system enters crisis.
It is strongly recommended for readers interested in party
survival, and the politics of the Andes generally. The book
provides compelling evidence for the importance of subnational
politics, the power of ideas, and the capacities of parties to
reinvent themselves. An essential contribution to the literature.'
Maxwell A. Cameron, Director, Centre for the Study of Democratic
Institutions, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
'By explaining why the fates of parties diverge in the aftermath of
electoral crises, this ambitious new book makes a number of
critical interventions in the literature on political parties.
Jennifer Cyr has used her impressive empirical command of three
complicated and crucial cases - Bolivia, Peru, and Venezuela - to
develop a powerful and general theory of party survival and
revival. Conceptualizing parties as complex entities, this book
shows that we need to think expansively not just about the nature
of the organizational and ideological resources potentially
available to parties, but also about the range of functions they
perform in democracy.' Kent Eaton, University of California, Santa
Cruz
'In this highly original and fascinating book, Lessing (Chicago)
examines drug wars in Latin America from the comparative
perspective of conflict between the state and drug cartels (as
nonstate actors). … This groundbreaking book draws on substantive
local research and interviews.' A. Siaroff, Choice
'In The Fates of Political Parties, Cyr takes us past the
hang-wringing stage of party crisis and pushes us to consider what
comes next. Theoretically and conceptually, the book is rich … It
is equally impressive as a study in how to conduct rigorous,
question-driven, and theoretically informed fieldwork.' Ryan E.
Carlin, Latin American Research Review
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