Parties and Democracy
This weeks reading was over the importance of political parties for democracy. Levitsky and Cameron make several good points of why parties are important in Latin America and I personally agree with most of it. A few are that parties help the people know who the candidates are and what they represent. Such as if a candidate is part of a more conservative or liberal party the average voter will have an easier time knowing what that candidate represents. They also talk about keeping politicians in check. For the most part I agree with this but even here in America several politicians have scandals that eventually come out of the closet. This weeks reading also goes over how parties help protect democracy by keeping executive powers in check. They make sure the executive branch doesn’t have to much power that being said if a state has weak parties it wont be effective at this.
Political parties help a state have “political class” not having a bunch of outsiders or amateurs running for office. I agree with this I believe that parties do help make a political class. But as we have even seen here in America outsiders can run and even get nominated with no background in politics. So parties can produce a good candidate but if an outsider has the funds they could go far in politics and may not live to the true ideals of what “their” party represents.
Political parties are important in Latin America for democracy. But only if these parties are strong. Weak parties will have little effect on the executive branch. As seen in Peru in the 1980s with political and socioeconomic crisis, and weak parties allowed Fujimori to get elected. Peru had a strong four party system but they began to fall into a crisis. Fujimori had little experience and he opted for a more authoritarian regime. This shows how weak parties can let an unexperienced person take office. This could be absolutely horrible for a state. Fujimori barley invested in his own party. He also established a model of electoral organization. Between 1995 and 2000 Fujimori’s government grew more authoritarian.
Political Parties are essential for democracy in Latin America. But democracy can only thrive if these parties are strong and hold candidates accountable. Peru is a perfect example of what can happen when an amateur takes office and parties can not do anything. Democracy can easily turn into an authoritarian government.