Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T13:34:02.546Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How Do Party Systems Shape Insurgency Levels? A Comparison of Four Nineteenth-Century Latin American Republics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2016

Nicolás M. Somma
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article explores how variations in party systems shape the intensity of insurgency against national authorities in nineteenth-century Latin America. I argue that, under certain conditions, two-party systems may polarize and lead to intense insurgency because they simplify the process of blame attribution, encourage the incumbent party to exclude its opponent from power positions, and motivate leaders to emphasize extreme ideological positions. Conversely, multiparty systems may encourage flexible electoral and congressional alliances among parties, resulting in lower insurgency. I test the argument in four nineteenth-century Latin American republics with different insurgency levels. While in Colombia and Uruguay two-party systems polarized and fueled intense insurgency across the century, Chile and Costa Rica developed flexible multiparty systems that prevented polarization and favored low insurgency.

Type
Articles
Information
Social Science History , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , Summer 2016 , pp. 219 - 245
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association, 2016 

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.)

References

Bogaards, M. (2009) “How to classify hybrid regimes? Defective democracy and electoral authoritarianism.” Democratization 16 (2): 399–423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bushnell, David (1991) “Política y Partidos en el Siglo XIX. Algunos Antecedentes Históricos,” in Gonzalo Sánchez and Ricardo Peñaranda (comp.) Pasado y presente de la violencia en Colombia. Medellín: La Carreta Editores, Universidad Nacional de Colombia: 31–39.Google Scholar
Bushnell, David (1993) The Making of Modern Colombia. A Nation in Spite of Itself. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Cederman, L. E., Weidmann, N. B., and Gleditsch, K. S. (2011) “Horizontal inequalities and ethnonationalist civil war: A global comparison.” American Political Science Review 105 (3): 478–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Centeno, M. A. (2003) Blood and Debt: War and the Nation-state in Latin America. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Chasteen, John Charles (1995) Heroes on Horseback: A Life and Times of the Last Gaucho Caudillos, 1st ed. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.Google Scholar
Collier, D., and Levitsky, S. (1997) “Democracy with adjectives: Conceptual innovation in comparative research.” World Politics 49 (3): 430–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collier, S., and Sater, W. F. (2004) A History of Chile, 1808–2002. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deas, Malcolm (1993) Del Poder y la Gramática y otros Ensayos sobre Historia, Política y Literatura Colombianas. Bogotá: Tercer Mundo Editores.Google Scholar
Díaz Arias, David (2005) Construcción de un estado moderno: Política, estado e identidad nacional en Costa Rica, 1821–1914. Serie Cuadernos de historia de las instituciones de Costa Rica. Vol. 18. San José: Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica.Google Scholar
Diamond, J. M. (1998) Guns, Germs, and Steel: A Short History of Everybody for the Last 3,000 Years. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Downs, Anthony (1957) An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper and Brothers.Google Scholar
Duverger, Maurice (1984) Los partidos políticos. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica.Google Scholar
Elbadawi, I. A., and Sambanis, N. (2000) External Interventions and the Duration of Civil Wars. Washington, DC: World Bank, Development Research Group, Public Economics.Google Scholar
Fearon, J. D., and Laitin, D. D. (2003) “Ethnicity, insurgency, and civil war.” American Political Science Review 97 (1): 75–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giugni, Marco G. (1998) “Was it worth the effort? The outcomes and consequences of social movements.” Annual Review of Sociology 24: 371–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldstone, J. A. (1991) Revolution and Rebellion in the Early Modern World. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Goldstone, Jack A. (2003) “Bridging institutionalized and noninstitutionalized politics,” in Goldstone, Jack A. (ed.) States, Parties, and Social Movements: Protest and the Dynamics of Institutional Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodwin, Jeff (2001) No Other Way Out: States and Revolutionary Movements, 1945–1991. Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gudmundson, Lowell (1983) “Costa Rica before coffee: Occupational distribution, wealth inequality, and elite society in the village economy of the 1840s.” Journal of Latin American Studies 15 (2): 427–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gurr, T. R. (1970) Why Men Rebel. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Halperín Donghi, Tulio (1993) The Contemporary History of Latin America. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hegre, H., Ellingsen, T., Gleditsch, N. P., and Gates, S. (2001) “Towards a democratic civil peace? Opportunity, grievance, and civil war, 1816–1992.” American Political Science Review 95 (1): 33–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henao, Jesús María, and Arrubla, Gerardo (1984) Historia de Colombia. 2 vols. Bogotá: Plaza and Janés Editores Colombia.Google Scholar
Huntington, Samuel P. (1993) The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late 20th Century. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.Google Scholar
Jaramillo Uribe, Jaime (1996) “La Economía del Virreinato (1740–1810),” in Ocampo, José Antonio (ed.) Historia Económica de Colombia, 4th ed. Bogotá: Siglo Veintiuno Editores of Colombia: 61–100.Google Scholar
Jasper, James M. (1998) “The emotions of protest: Affective and reactive emotions in and around social movements.” Sociological Forum 13 (3): 397–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Javeline, Debra (2003) Protest and the Politics of Blame: The Russian Response to Unpaid Wages. Interests, Identities, and Institutions in Comparative Politics. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Kitschelt, Herbert P. (1989) The Logics of Party Formation: Ecological Politics in Belgium and West Germany. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LaPalombara, Joseph, and Jeffrey, Anderson (1992) “Political parties,” in Hawkesworth, Mary and Kogan, Maurice (eds.) Encyclopedia of Government and Politics. Vol. 1. London and New York: Routledge: 393–411.Google Scholar
Levitsky, S., and Way, L. (2002) “The rise of competitive authoritarianism.” Journal of Democracy 13 (2): 51–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lijphart, Arend (1968) The Politics of Accommodation. Pluralism and Democracy in the Netherlands. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Lijphart, Arend (2000) Modelos de democracia. Formas de gobierno y resultados en treinta y seis países. Barcelona: Editorial Ariel.Google Scholar
Linz, Juan J. (1990) “Democracia: presidencialismo o parlamentarismo ¿hace alguna diferencia?,” in Godoy Arcaya, Oscar (ed.) Hacia una democracia moderna. La opción parlamentaria. Santiago: Ediciones Universidad Católica de Chile: 41–108.Google Scholar
Lipset, Seymour M., and Rokkan, Stein (1967) “Cleavage structures, party systems, and voter alignments,” in Lipset, Seymour M. and Rokkan, Stein (eds.) Party Systems and Voter Alignments: Cross-National Perspectives. New York: The Free Press: 1–64.Google Scholar
López-Alves, Fernando (2001) State Formation and Democracy in Latin America, 1810–1900. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Mainwaring, Scott (1993) “Presidentialism, multipartism, and democracy: The difficult combination.” Comparative Political Studies 26 (2): 198–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casas, Maiztegui, Lincoln, R. (2005) Orientales: Una historia política del Uruguay, 1st ed. Vols. 1 and 2. Montevideo, Uruguay: Planeta.Google Scholar
Mazzuca, Sebastián, and James, A. Robinson (2006) “Political conflict and power-sharing in the origins of modern Colombia.” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series #12099.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAdam, Doug (1999) Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930–1970, 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCarthy, John D., and Zald, Mayer N. (1973) The Trend of Social Movements in America: Professionalization and Resource Mobilization. Ann Arbor: Center for Research on Social Organization, University of Michigan.Google Scholar
McVeigh, Rory (2006) “Structural Influences on Activism and Crime: Identifying the Social Structure of Discontent.” American Journal of Sociology 112 (2): 510–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Molina, Iván, and Palmer, Steven (2005) The History of Costa Rica: Brief, Up-to-Date and Illustrated. San José: Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica.Google Scholar
Monge Alfaro, Carlos (1980) Historia de Costa Rica, 16th ed. San José, Costa Rica: Librería Trejos.Google Scholar
Morner, Magnus (1960) “Caudillos y militares en la evolución hispanoamericana.” Journal of Inter-American Studies 2 (3): 295–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muller, E. N. (1985) “Income inequality, regime repressiveness, and political violence.” American Sociological Review 50 (1): 47–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neumann, Sigmund (1992) “Sistemas de partidos y grados de integración,” in Calanchini Urroz, Juan J. (comp.) Cuadernos de Ciencia Política. Partidos Políticos 3. Tipos de Partidos. Montevideo, Uruguay: Fundación de Cultura Universitaria, Instituto de Ciencia Política: 27–34.Google Scholar
Obregón Loría, Rafael (1981) De nuestra historia patria. Hechos militares y políticos, 2nd ed. Alajuela: Museo Histórico Cultural Juan Santamaría.Google Scholar
Orlando Melo, Jorge (1989) “Del federalismo a la Constitución de 1886,” in Tirado Mejía, Alvaro (ed.) Nueva Historia de Colombia. Vol. 1. Bogotá: Editorial Planeta: 17–42.Google Scholar
Mesa, Ortiz, Javier, Luis (2005) “Guerra, recursos y vida cotidiana en la guerra civil 1876–1877 en los Estados Unidos de Colombia,” in Javier Ortíz Mesa, Luis (comp.) Ganarse el cielo defendiendo la religión: guerras civiles en Colombia, 1840–1902. Bogotá: Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas y Económicas, Escuela de Historia: 363–444.Google Scholar
Paige, Jeffery M. (1975) Agrarian Revolution: Social Movements and Export Agriculture in the Underdeveloped World. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Pivel Devoto, Juan (1994) Historia de los partidos políticos en el Uruguay. Vols. 1 and 2. Montevideo: República Oriental del Uruguay, Cámara de Representantes.Google Scholar
Polletta, Francesca, and Jasper, James (2001) “Collective identity and social movements.” Annual Review of Sociology 27: 283–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Posada-Carbó, Eduardo (2000) “Electoral juggling: A comparative history of the corruption of suffrage in Latin America, 1830–1930.” Journal of Latin American Studies 32 (11): 611–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Posada-Carbó, Eduardo (2008) “Historical sequences and the origins of democracy in Colombia, 1808–1886.” Paper presented at the Conference Origins of Democracy in the Americas, 1770s–1870s, Kellogg Institute, University of Notre Dame, September 18–21.Google Scholar
Rama, Carlos M. (1972) Historia social del pueblo Uruguayo. Montevideo, Uruguay: Editorial Comunidad del Sur.Google Scholar
Rica, República de Costa (1901) Revista de Costa Rica en el siglo XIX. Tomo primero. San José, Costa Rica: Tipografía Nacional.Google Scholar
Reyes Abadie, Washington, and Romero, Andrés Vázquez (1998) Crónica general del Uruguay. Montevideo, Uruguay: Ediciones de la Banda Oriental.Google Scholar
Rotberg, R. I., ed. (2010) When States Fail: Causes and Consequences. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Safford, Frank, and Palacios, Marco (2002) Colombia: Fragmented Land, Divided Society. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Salazar Mora, Orlando (1989) “Sobre la democracia liberal en Costa Rica (1889–1919),” in de la Cruz, Vladimir (comp.) Las instituciones costarricenses de las sociedades indígenas a la crisis de la república liberal. San José: Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica: 383–414.Google Scholar
Salazar Mora, Orlando (1990) El apogeo de la república liberal en Costa Rica: 1870–1914. Colección Historia de Costa Rica, 1st ed. San José: Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica.Google Scholar
Salazar Mora, Orlando, and Salazar Mora, Jorge Mario (1991) Los partidos políticos en Costa Rica, 1st ed. San José, Costa Rica: Editorial Universidad Estatal a Distancia.Google Scholar
Sambanis, N. (2002) “A review of recent advances and future directions in the quantitative literature on civil war.” Defence and Peace Economics 13 (3): 215–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sartori, Giovanni (2005 [1976]) Parties and Party Systems: A Framework for Analysis. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Scully, Timothy R. (1992) Rethinking the Center: Party Politics in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Chile. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Skocpol, Theda (1979) States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snow, D., Rochford, B., Worden, S., and Benford, R. (1986) “Frame Alignment Processes, Micromobilization, and Movement Participation.” American Sociological Review 51 (4): 464–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stone, Samuel (1982) La dinastía de los conquistadores: La crisis del poder en la Costa Rica contemporánea. Colección seis, 1st ed. San José, Costa Rica: Editorial Universitaria Centroamericana.Google Scholar
Tilly, Charles (1978) From Mobilization to Revolution. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing.Google Scholar
Tilly, Charles (1993) European Revolutions, 1492–1992: Making of Europe. Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Tirado Mejía, Alvaro (1999) “El Estado y la Política en el Siglo XIX,” in Posada-Carbó, Eduardo (ed.) Manual de Historia de Colombia. Vol. 2. Bogotá: Ministerio de Cultura, TM Editores: 327–84.Google Scholar
Valenzuela, J. Samuel (1985) Democratización vía reforma: la expansión del sufragio en Chile. Buenos Aires: IDES.Google Scholar
Valenzuela, J. Samuel (1995) “Orígenes y transformaciones del sistema de partidos en Chile.” Estudios Públicos 58: 5–77.Google Scholar
Valenzuela, J. Samuel (1996) “Building aspects of democracy before democracy: Electoral practices in nineteenth century Chile,” in Posada-Carbó, Eduardo (ed.) Elections before Democracy: The History of Elections in Europe and Latin America. London and New York: Macmillan and St. Martin's Press: 223–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valenzuela, J. Samuel (2006) “Caudillismo, democracia, y la excepcionalidad chilena en América Hispana.” Revista de Occidente 305: 11–28.Google Scholar
Valenzuela, J. Samuel (2008) “From town assemblies to representative democracy: The contested building of electoral institutions in post-colonial Chile.” Paper presented at a conference organized by J. S. Valenzuela and E. Posada-Carbó on The Origins of Democracy in the Americas, 1770–1870, at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, University of Notre Dame, September 19–20.Google Scholar
Van Cott, Donna Lee (2005) From Movements to Parties in Latin America: The Evolution of Ethnic Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vargas González, Hugo (2005) El sistema electoral en Costa Rica durante el siglo XIX. Serie Cuadernos de Historia de las instituciones de Costa Rica. Vol. 21. San José, Costa Rica: Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica.Google Scholar
Carballo, Vega, Luis, José (1981) Orden y progreso: La formación del estado nacional en Costa Rica. San José, Costa Rica: Instituto Centroamericano de Administración Pública.Google Scholar
Wickham-Crowley, Timothy P. (1992) Guerrillas and Revolution in Latin America: A Comparative Study of Insurgents and Regimes since 1956. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zum Felde, Alberto (1963) Proceso histórico del Uruguay. Historia y cultura. Vol. 3. Montevideo, Uruguay: Universidad de la República, Departamento de Publicaciones.Google Scholar