The Expectation for Political Parties

Political parties enable the government to work with more ease and cater to the issues of a wider range of the public. Parties also socialize elected officials to be accountable to their constituents, which is an essential pillar of democracy. In Peru this was not the case, the political parties were weak, which allowed an authoritarian regime to be instilled. Political parties form a bonding force for government branches and for the elites to those of lesser economic standing.

 

In the article Democracy Without Parties? Political Parties and Regime Change in Fujimori’s Peru , Steven Levitsky and Matt Cameron use the governmental changes that occurred in Peru from the late 1980s to the early 2000’s to stress the importance of political parties. The collapse of the democracy in the 1990s can be attributed to a weak corrupt political system and the socioeconomic crisis that occurred in the 1980s. This caused the voting population of Peru to lose faith in the established parties and allowed independent parties to rise, which Fujimori was a part of. Fujimori lead an autoglope that resulted in mass support and the creation of the new authoritarian government. He created his own constitution only to go against it in future elections, by running for three terms. These elections were won by large margins, which was due to the corruption and oppression that accompanied his rule. His party fell apart due to internal divisions and illegal actions that negatively affected his legitimacy to rule. Once Fujimori was removed from office in the early 2000s, Peru was able to democratize once again. Even though the country had democratized, politicians were still unwilling to come together to form parties because they saw better chances of winning office by remaining independent.

 

Although parties do allow a democracies to function better it may be too soon to critique the Peruvian democracy. The founders of the United States government ideally wanted the government not to contain political parties. It took about ten years after the US government was established for two opposing parties to be created. During this period only a small portion of the population was able to vote. This portion had similar beliefs, careers, financial wealth, and ethnic backgrounds. Therefore it was not difficult to align their views with two distinct parties made up of politicians similar to themselves. The right to vote took over 100 years to include the entire adult population, during which the new voting population had been socialized and taught to agree with the views of the already existing party system. When African Americans and women achieved the right to vote their political views already aligned with the parties. In the case of Peru, after democratization, the party system was forced on the constituents. Within years of democratization universal suffrage was granted to the citizens of Peru. The population of Peru is diverse socially, economically, and ethnically. It is highly improbable that the constituents hold the same ideas that would align with a few parties, especially with the form of government being so new. It was only inevitable that these independent parties came about because the voting population was never socialized to align with the views of the existing parties. This meant that individuals held onto their own unique ideals and political beliefs and expected them to be taken into consideration through the democratic process.

 

Political parties allow a democracy to run more efficiently. The article Democracy Without Parties? Political Parties and Regime Change in Fujimori’s Peru discussed the failure of the Peruvian democratic party system leading to the election of Fujimori, which was followed by the implementation of an authoritarian regime. The Peruvian government was characterized by a plethora of politicians creating their own independent parties and not willing to work together to build strong unified parties. This could be attributed to the diverse population not being socialized to share the views of one party but to look for a party that directly caters to their own views.

 

Work Cited

 

Levitsky, S. and Cameron, M. A. (2003). Democracy Without Parties? Political parties and Regime Change in Fujimori’s Peru. Latin American Politics and Society, 45(3):1–33

Alchin, By Linda. “Timeline U.S. Political Parties.” : American History for Kids ***. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.