Parties+and+Voters+in+Emerging+Democracies

Course Notes by Eddy CRS SIS 700 Frances Hagopain
 * Parties and Voters in Emerging Democracies **

Key underlying idea: Political Parties are the most important agents of political representation. Thesis: There is no general theory that can explain why in new democracies (third wave) the linkages between voters and parties are very volatile and fluid. Only a minority of voters identify with a political party in emerging dems. There is no empirical evidence that this is changing over time, or at least over four elections cycles. This volatility is not results-based, as improved economic conditions have actually decreased the number of voters who identify with a party in emerging democracies. There are three categories for describing voter-party relationships: 1) Programmatic   2) Personalistic 3) Clientalistic  In stable, established democracies partisanship arose because of sociological categories (Class, race, region, etc...)  The assumption is that in emerging democracies, people support a party because of patronage (essentially selling their votes for pork!)  ...However this is too simplistic a theory.  There is uncertain findings with regards to what strategies parties use to mobilize supporters – they can mix strategies and change them, thus studies have not uncovered a coherent explanation.  There has been a tendency to overemphasize the role of institutions in determining party loyalty. ie. It doesn't to matter all that much if the political system is a first-past-the-post parliamentary one or something else. Hagopian offers some other possible factors that influence why party support is so fragile and fluid in emerging democracies:
 * 2) ** Voter Mobilization Strategies:
 * 3) ** The role of Institutions and Structures

- Authoritarian legacies might influence interests and resource endowments. - Poor voters are more likely to sell their votes than middle-class voters. Thus parties with a working class base can better take advantage of patronage. Essentially, both Structural and Institutional explanations can account for the existing party links, but not why they change. This chapter focused on which voters parties target in new democracies and how they try to mobilize them and why. This chapter has raised more questions than it answered regarding the fragile and fluid relationships between parties and voters in emerging democracies. These questions will remain open until these new democracies stabilize.
 * Conclusion **