Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-rkzlw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-07-31T10:03:45.946Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Outsiders and Executive-Legislative Conflict in Latin America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Miguel Carreras
Miguel Carreras*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of California, Riverside. carreras_miguel@hotmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

One of the most significant developments in Latin American democracies since the beginning of the Third Wave of democratization is the rise to power of political outsiders. However, the study of the political consequences of this phenomenon has been neglected. This article begins to fill that gap by examining whether the rise of outsiders in the region increases the level of executive-legislative confrontation. Using an original database of political outsiders in Latin America, it reports a series of logistic regressions showing that the risk of executive-legislative conflict significantly increases when the president is an outsider. The likelihood of institutional paralysis increases when an independent gets elected, due to the legislative body's lack of support for the president and the outsider's lack of political skills. The risk of an executive's attempted dissolution of Congress is also much higher when the president is an outsider.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 56 , Issue 3 , Fall 2014 , pp. 70 - 92
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Altman, David. 2000. The Politics of Coalition Formation and Survival in Multiparty Presidential Democracies: the Case of Uruguay, 1989–1999. Party Politics 6, 3: 259–83.Google Scholar
Altman, David, and Castiglioni, Rossana. 2008. Cabinet Determinants of Structural Reforms in Latin America, 1985–2000. The Developing Economies 46, 1: 1–25.Google Scholar
Amorim Neto, Octavio. 2002. Presidential Cabinets, Electoral Cycles, and Coalition Discipline in Brazil. In Legislative Politics in Latin America, ed. Morgenstern, Scott and Nacif, Benito. New York: Cambridge University Press. 48–78.Google Scholar
Anderson, Christopher J., Blais, André, Bowler, Shaun, Donovan, Todd, and Listhaug, Ola. 2005. Losers' Consent: Elections and Democratic Legitimacy. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Barr, Robert R. 2009. Populists, Outsiders, and Anti-Establishment Politics. Party Politics 15, 1: 29–48.Google Scholar
Carey, John M., and Hix, Simon. 2008. Maximizing Representation and Accountability in the Design of Electoral Systems. Carey data archive. http://sites.dartmouth.edu/jcarey Google Scholar
Centro de Investigación de Relaciones Internacionales y Desarrollo (CIDOB). Biografías líderes políticos. http://www.cidob.org/en/documentation/biografias_lideres_politicos Google Scholar
Cheibub, José Antonio. 2002. Minority Governments, Deadlock Situations, and the Survival of Presidential Democracies. Comparative Political Studies 35, 3: 284–312.Google Scholar
Collier, David, and Mahon, James E.. 1993. Conceptual Stretching Revisited: Adapting Categories in Comparative Analysis. American Political Science Review 87, 4: 845–55.Google Scholar
Colomer, Josep M., and Negretto, Gabriel L.. 2005. Can Presidentialism Work like Parliamentarism? Government and Opposition 40, 1: 60–89.Google Scholar
Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL). Cepalstat. Bases de datos y publicaciones estadísticas. Database. http://estadisticas.cepal.org/ Google Scholar
Conaghan, Catherine M. 2005. Fujimori's Peru: Deception in the Public Sphere. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Corrales, Javier. 2008. Latin America's Neocaudillismo: Ex-Presidents and Newcomers Running for President… and Winning. Latin American Politics and Society 50, 3 (Fall): 1–35.Google Scholar
Deheza, Grace I. 1998. Gobiernos de coalición presidencial: América del Sur. In El presidencialismo renovado. Instituciones y cambio político en América Latina, ed. Nohlen, Dieter and Fernández, Mario. Caracas: Editorial Nueva Sociedad. 151–69.Google Scholar
Edwards, George C. 1976. Presidential Influence in the House: Presidential Prestige as a Source of Presidential Power. American Political Science Review 70, 1: 101–13.Google Scholar
Freidenberg, Flavia. 2007. La tentación populista: una vía al poder en América Latina. Madrid: Síntesis.Google Scholar
Goertz, Gary 2006. Social Science Concepts: A User's Guide. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Greene, William H. 2008. Econometric Analysis. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Harmel, Robert, and Robertson, John D.. 1985. Formation and Success of New Parties: a Cross-National Analysis. International Political Science Review 6, 4: 501–23.Google Scholar
Hawkins, Kirk A. 2010. Venezuela's Chavismo and Populism in Comparative Perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Heston, Alan, Summers, Robert, and Aten, Bettina. 2009. Penn World Table, version 6.3. Philadelphia: Center for International Comparisons of Production, Income, and Prices, University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Hochstetler, Kathryn. 2006. Rethinking Presidentialism: Challenges and Presidential Falls in South America. Comparative Politics 38, 4: 401–18.Google Scholar
Howard, Robert M., and Carey, Henry F.. 2004. Is an Independent Judiciary Necessary for Democracy? Judicature 87, 6: 284–90.Google Scholar
Hug, Simon. 2001. Altering Party Systems: Strategic Behavior and the Emergence of New Political Parties in Western Democracies. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Katz, Richard S. 1986. Intraparty Preference Voting. In Electoral Laws and Their Political Consequences, ed. Grofman, B. and Lijphart, Arend. New York: Agathon Press. 85–103.Google Scholar
Kenney, Charles D. 1998. Outsider and Anti-Party Politicians in Power: New Conceptual Strategies and Empirical Evidence from Peru. Party Politics 4, 1: 57–75.Google Scholar
Kenney, Charles D. 2004. Fujimori's Coup and the Breakdown of Democracy in Latin America. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
King, Gary, and Zeng, Langche. 2001. Logistic Regression in Rare Events Data. Political Analysis 9, 2: 137–63.Google Scholar
King, Gary, Tomz, Michael, and Wittenberg, Jason. 2000. Making the Most of Statistical Analyses: Improving Interpretation and Presentation. American Journal of Political Science 44, 2: 347–61.Google Scholar
Kosuke, Imai, King, Gary, and Lau, Olivia. 2008. Toward a Common Framework for Statistical Analysis and Development. Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics 17, 4: 1–22.Google Scholar
La Porta, Rafael, López-de-Silanes, Florencio, Pop-Eleches, Cristian, and Shleifer, Andrei. 2004. Judicial Checks and Balances. Journal of Political Economy 112, 2: 445–70.Google Scholar
Levitsky, Steven, and Cameron, Maxwell A.. 2003. Democracy without Parties? Political Parties and Regime Change in Fujimori's Peru. Latin American Politics and Society 45, 3 (Fall): 1–33.Google Scholar
Levitt, Barry S. 2012. Power in the Balance: Presidents, Parties, and Legislatures in Peru and Beyond. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
Lijphart, Arend J. 1992. Introduction. In Parliamentary versus Presidential Government, ed. Lijphart, . New York: Oxford University Press. 1–27.Google Scholar
Linz, Juan J. 1990. The Perils of Presidentialism. Journal of Democracy 1, 1: 51–69.Google Scholar
Linz, Juan J. 1994. Presidential or Parliamentary Democracy: Does it Make a Difference? In The Failure of Presidential Democracy, ed. Linz, and Valenzuela, Arturo. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 3–87.Google Scholar
Lupu, Noam. 2011. Partisanship, Brand Dilution, and the Breakdown of Political Parties in Latin America. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Mainwaring, Scott P. 1993. Presidentialism, Multipartism, and Democracy. Comparative Political Studies 26, 2: 198–228.Google Scholar
Miller, Sebastián. 2011. Why Do Populist-Outsiders Get Elected? A Model of Strategic Populists. IDB Working Paper no. IDB-WP-248. Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank.Google Scholar
Morgenstern, Scott. 2001. Organized Factions and Disorganized Parties. Party Politics 7, 2: 235–56.Google Scholar
Negretto, Gabriel L. 2006. Minority Presidents and Democratic Performance in Latin America. Latin American Politics and Society 48, 3 (Fall): 63–92.Google Scholar
Neustadt, Richard E. 1964. Presidential Power: The Politics of Leadership. New York: Signet Books.Google Scholar
O'Donnell, Guillermo. 2004. The Quality of Democracy: Why the Rule of Law Matters. Journal of Democracy 15, 4: 32–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pease, Henry. 2012. Former legislator; professor, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Author interview. Lima, October 30.Google Scholar
Pendergast, Jane F., Gange, Stephen J., Newton, Michael A., Lindstrom, Mary J., Palta, Maria, and Fisher, Marian R.. 1996. A Survey of Methods for Analyzing Clustered Binary Response Data. International Statistical Review 64, 1: 89–118.Google Scholar
Pérez-Liñán, Aníbal. 2007. Presidential Impeachment and the New Political Instability in Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pérez-Liñán, Aníbal, Lodola, Germán, Castagnola, Andrea, Su, Yen-Pin, Polga-Hecimovich, John, and Negri, Juan. 2008. Latin American Political Processes: Scandals, Protest, and Institutional Conflicts, 1980–2007. Database. Department of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Pérez-Liñán, Aníbal, Carlos Rodríguez Raga, Juan, Castañeda-Angarita, Néstor, Polga-Hecimovich, John, Sadeghipour, Yasaman, and Samras, Mike. 2011. Legislatures in Latin America. Database. Department of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Rivers, Douglas, Rose, and Nancy L.. 1985. Passing the President's Program: Public Opinion and Presidential Influence in Congress. American Journal of Political Science 29, 2: 183–96.Google Scholar
Roberts, Kenneth M. 1995. Neoliberalism and the Transformation of Populism in Latin America: the Peruvian Case. World Politics 48, 1: 82–116.Google Scholar
Samuels, David J., Shugart, and Matthew S.. 2010. Insiders and Outsiders: Madison's Dilemma and Leadership Selection. In Presidents, Parties, and Prime Ministers, ed. Samuels, and Shugart, . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 62–93.Google Scholar
Sartori, Giovanni. 1970. Concept Misformation in Comparative Politics. American Political Science Review 64, 4: 1033–53.Google Scholar
Sartori, Giovanni. 1984. Guidelines for Concept Analysis. In Social Science Concepts: A Systematic Analysis, ed. Sartori, . Beverly Hills: Sage.Google Scholar
Seawright, Jason. 2011. Feeling Like a Change: Affect, Uncertainty, and Support for Outsider Parties. Unpublished mss. Department of Political Science, Northwestern University.Google Scholar
Siavelis, Peter M., and Morgenstern, Scott. 2008. Political Recruitment and Candidate Selection in Latin America: A Framework for Analysis. In Pathways to Power: Political Recruitment and Candidate Selection in Latin America, ed. Siavelis, and Morgenstern, . University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. 3–37.Google Scholar
Stoyan, Alissandra T. 2010. Constitutional Reform and Congressional Closure in Contemporary Latin America. Unpublished mss. Department of Political Science, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.Google Scholar
Tavits, Margit. 2006. Party System Change: Testing a Model of New Party Entry. Party Politics 12, 1: 99–119.Google Scholar
Weyland, Kurt. 1999. Neoliberal Populism in Latin America and Eastern Europe. Comparative Politics 31, 4: 379–401.Google Scholar
Weyland, Kurt. 2002. The Politics of Market Reforms in Fragile Democracies: Argentina, Brazil, Peru, and Venezuela. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar