Party System Competition and *Representation: Democratization and Redemocratization in Chile From a Comparative Perspective

Abstract

In departing from most studies of parties and party systems, this work proposes a novel conception of party systems that focuses on patterns of competition and representation. In seeking to explain the origins and transformations of these particular patterns in Latin America, I take a long-term historical view that highlights the importance of four variables in the initial period of democratization: (1) the sequence of party-state formation; (2) the relative balance of executive-legislative relations; (3) the structure of social cleavages; and (4) the expansion of suffrage. Beyond assessing and explaining the origins of party system competition and representation in Latin America, I demonstrate how the nature of the bureaucratic-authoritarian regimes and the dynamics of the transition have modified these party system patterns since redemocratization in the 1980s. While the focus of this study is the case of Chile, I also compare and contrast the varied experiences of Brazil and Argentina.