From Movements to Parties in Latin America. The Evolution...

The author analyzes how indigenous people’s movements in Latin America transformed into viable political parties. For her, these new parties are good for the democracy because they enrich and enhance the legitimacy of the political and electoral system. She assumes that the primary link between state and society are the parties and its accountability impact on the institutions. She proves that the crisis of the traditional parties and the transformation of the historical electoral constrains were determinant factors that contributed to ethnic party formation and consolidation. Van Cott conclusions were based on the study of six countries: Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela as successful cases, and Peru and Argentina as failed†¦show more content†¦Therefore, the asked question is under which conditions ethnic parties tended to merge and to endure? To untangle this question the book uses primary and secondary sources. The primary ones are the result of several years of field work in situ in the mentioned countries, except Argentina; and the secondary ones are an exhaustive review of the scholarly over democratic regimes and electoral systems, political parties and ethnic parties, and social movements in the international and national levels. While doing this, she builds her own basic category of analysis: the ethnic party. An ethnic party is defined as any political organization with a strong ethnic component: ethnic leaders, majority of ethnic members, or have ethnic or cultural related core demands. Within these strictures, she explores intrinsic and external reasons for party formation. When the indigenous communities realize that they could keep their traditions, their land, and basically, their autonomy, and at the same time be politically independent not a convenient minority for the left or for the dominant parties; they were internally ready to face the changes coming from the outside. This consolidation process takes approximately four to ten years when the social movement shapes itself and recognizes its capacity and political possibilities. The external circumstances got more attention from the author. The permissiveShow MoreRelatedStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 PagesOrganizational Behavior This page intentionally left blank Organizational Behavior EDITION 15 Stephen P. Robbins —San Diego State University Timothy A. Judge —University of Notre Dame i3iEi35Bj! Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Upper Saddle River Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montreal Toronto Delhi Mexico City Sao Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore Taipei Tokyo Editorial Director: Sally Yagan Director of Editorial Services: