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Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Figures and Tables -- Acknowledgments -- List of Abbreviations -- PART 1 Understanding party system collapse: concepts and theory -- 1 Introduction: The Catastrophe of Collapse -- 2 What It Looks Like: System Change, Transformation, and Collapse -- 3 Theorizing Collapse: Challenges, Constraints, and Decaying Linkage -- PART 2 Linkage failure and Venezuelan collapse -- 4 The Party System at Its Peak -- 5 Policy Unresponsiveness and Ideological Convergence -- 6 Social Transformation and Failing Group Incorporation -- 7 Resource Shortages and Clientelist Excesses -- 8 Linkage Failure and Mass Exodus from the Party System -- PART 3 Party system collapse and survival in comparative perspective -- 9 A Comparative Approach to Analyzing Party System Collapse -- 10 Bankrupt Representation in Italy, Colombia, and Bolivia -- 11 Survival Tactics in Argentina, Belgium, Uruguay, and India -- 12 Insights into Collapse and Its Consequences -- Appendixes -- References -- Index

Early advocates of decentralization lauded it as a strategy for strengthening democratic institutions, but later scholarship has emphasized decentralization's negative consequences, especially for political parties. This article argues that the impact of political decentralization on established parties is shaped by the context in which the reforms occur, with poor economic performance and limited programmatic differentiation making parties more vulnerable to the challenges posed by decentralization. The article explores how decentralization under such circumstances has contributed to party decay in Latin America, where declining support for established parties has been significant, in some places undermining democratic stability and governability. The article employs cross-national time-series analysis and case studies. The quantitative evidence indicates that political decentralization weakens existing parties in contexts of poor economic conditions and little ideological differentiation in the party system. Case studies elaborate the processes through which decentralizing reforms together with economic conditions and party linkages affect party systems.

Early advocates of decentralization lauded it as a strategy for strengthening democratic institutions, but later scholarship has emphasized decentralization's negative consequences, especially for political parties. This article argues that the impact of political decentralization on established parties is shaped by the context in which the reforms occur, with poor economic performance and limited programmatic differentiation making parties more vulnerable to the challenges posed by decentralization. The article explores how decentralization under such circumstances has contributed to party decay in Latin America, where declining support for established parties has been significant, in some places undermining democratic stability and governability. The article employs cross-national time-series analysis and case studies. The quantitative evidence indicates that political decentralization weakens existing parties in contexts of poor economic conditions and little ideological differentiation in the party system. Case studies elaborate the processes through which decentralizing reforms together with economic conditions and party linkages affect party systems. Resumen Estudios tempranos sobre la descentralización celebran el efecto positivo de dichos procesos sobre las instituciones democráticas. En contraste, estudios más recientes enfatizan las consecuencias negativas de la descentralización, especialmente para los partidos políticos. Este artículo argumenta que el impacto de procesos de descentralización sobre los partidos políticos depende del contexto en que dichas reformas ocurren. Específicamente, contextos de pobre desempeño económico y falta de diferenciación programática hacen a los partidos más vulnerables a los desafíos planteados por la descentralización. El artículo explora como, en dichas circunstancias, la descentralización ha contribuido al deterioro de los partidos políticos latinoamericanos, en algunos casos debilitando la estabilidad democrática y gobernabilidad. El artículo incluye un análisis estadístico y de casos. El primero muestra como la descentralización debilita los partidos existentes en contextos de pobre desempeño económico y falta de diferenciación ideológica en el sistema de partidos. El segundo ilumina los procesos mediante los cuales las reformas de descentralización, junto con condiciones económicas y mecanismos de vinculación partidaria, afectan al sistema de partidos políticos.

This article outlines three theoretical arguments—socialization, status discontent, and elite cues—that generate competing predictions about the way context shapes gender attitudes. Using hierarchical analysis, we assess the power of these arguments in Latin America, a region that manifests considerable variation on our central explanatory variables and thus offers important theoretical leverage. We find men's gender attitudes to be highly contingent on elite cues and susceptible to backlash effects in response to women's economic advancement. Also, where women lack national representation, distrust of government promotes support for female leadership as an alternative to the discredited (male) establishment. The analysis supports existing individual-level explanations of gender attitudes and demonstrates a connection between diffuse democratic values and gender egalitarianism. The findings suggest that recent advances for female politicians in Latin America may be susceptible to reversal, and they illuminate strategies for strengthening women's equality in the region.