Kirk A. Hawkins - Böcker

Political parties provide a crucial link between voters and politicians. This link takes a variety of forms in democratic regimes, from the organization of political machines built around clientelistic networks to the establishment of sophisticated programmatic parties. Latin American Party Systems provides a novel theoretical argument to account for differences in the degree to which political party systems in the region were programmatically structured at the end of the twentieth century. Based on a diverse array of indicators and surveys of party legislators and public opinion, the book argues that learning and adaptation through fundamental policy innovations are the main mechanisms by which politicians build programmatic parties. Marshalling extensive evidence, the book's analysis shows the limits of alternative explanations and substantiates a sanguine view of programmatic competition, nevertheless recognizing that this form of party system organization is far from ubiquitous and enduring in Latin America.

Political parties provide a crucial link between voters and politicians. This link takes a variety of forms in democratic regimes, from the organization of political machines built around clientelistic networks to the establishment of sophisticated programmatic parties. Latin American Party Systems provides a novel theoretical argument to account for differences in the degree to which political party systems in the region were programmatically structured at the end of the twentieth century. Based on a diverse array of indicators and surveys of party legislators and public opinion, the book argues that learning and adaptation through fundamental policy innovations are the main mechanisms by which politicians build programmatic parties. Marshalling extensive evidence, the book's analysis shows the limits of alternative explanations and substantiates a sanguine view of programmatic competition, nevertheless recognizing that this form of party system organization is far from ubiquitous and enduring in Latin America.

Populism is best understood as a Manichaean world view linked to a characteristic language or discourse. Chavismo, the movement that sustains Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, is a paradigmatic instance of populism. Using a novel, cross-country dataset on populist discourse, combined with extensive data from within Venezuela and across other countries, this book demonstrates that populist movements can be understood as responses to widespread corruption and economic crisis. The book analyzes the Bolivarian Circles and government missions in Venezuela, revealing how populist ideas influence political organization and policy. The analysis provides important insight into the nature of populism, including its causes and consequences, and addresses broader questions about the role of ideas in politics.

This book provides a series of specific predictions about the distinct impact of populist ideas.In this sequel to the first volume, the ideational approach to populism is extended, providing a robust theoretical framework for understanding populism’s consequences and for identifying policies that mitigate its most negative effects. It reaffirms that ideas matter, arguing that an ideational definition of populism leads to more accurate, and sometimes surprising predictions about the impact of populism at multiple levels of analysis. The chapters of this edited volume explore the effect of populist ideas in each of four areas: consequences for state-level institutions, voters, and international relations; and mitigation. The ideational approach encourages us instead to invest in more systematic engagement with populists and pay better attention to our communication skills.It will be of interest to students and scholars of politics, international relations, social psychology, and political communication.

This book provides a series of specific predictions about the distinct impact of populist ideas.In this sequel to the first volume, the ideational approach to populism is extended, providing a robust theoretical framework for understanding populism’s consequences and for identifying policies that mitigate its most negative effects. It reaffirms that ideas matter, arguing that an ideational definition of populism leads to more accurate, and sometimes surprising predictions about the impact of populism at multiple levels of analysis. The chapters of this edited volume explore the effect of populist ideas in each of four areas: consequences for state-level institutions, voters, and international relations; and mitigation. The ideational approach encourages us instead to invest in more systematic engagement with populists and pay better attention to our communication skills.It will be of interest to students and scholars of politics, international relations, social psychology, and political communication.

Populism is best understood as a Manichaean world view linked to a characteristic language or discourse. Chavismo, the movement that sustains Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, is a paradigmatic instance of populism. Using a novel, cross-country dataset on populist discourse, combined with extensive data from within Venezuela and across other countries, this book demonstrates that populist movements can be understood as responses to widespread corruption and economic crisis. The book analyzes the Bolivarian Circles and government missions in Venezuela, revealing how populist ideas influence political organization and policy. The analysis provides important insight into the nature of populism, including its causes and consequences, and addresses broader questions about the role of ideas in politics.

Populism is on the rise in Europe and the Americas. Scholars increasingly understand populist forces in terms of their ideas or discourse, one that envisions a cosmic struggle between the will of the common people and a conspiring elite. In this volume, we advance populism scholarship by proposing a causal theory and methodological guidelines – a research program – based on this ideational approach. This program argues that populism exists as a set of widespread attitudes among ordinary citizens, and that these attitudes lie dormant until activated by weak democratic governance and policy failure. It offers methodological guidelines for scholars seeking to measure populist ideas and test their effects. And, to ground the program empirically, it tests this theory at multiple levels of analysis using original data on populist discourse across European and US party systems; case studies of populist forces in Europe, Latin America, and the US; survey data from Europe and Latin America; and experiments in Chile, the US, and the UK. The result is a truly systematic, comparative approach that helps answer questions about the causes and effects of populism.