Work

Revisiting party system structuration in Latin America and Europe: Economic and socio-cultural dimensions

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The degree to which party systems are ideologically and programmatically structured is central to democracy. This article analyzes differences in the extent and nature of programmatic structuration in Latin America and Europe, using a new original data source, the Chapel Hill Expert Survey-Latin America (CHES-LA), in combination with the long-standing CHES-Europe. First, we demonstrate the reliability of CHES-LA in relation to CHES-Europe, and substantiate its validity by comparing it to other expert, elite and party manifesto surveys in Latin America. Using confirmatory factor analysis, we then show that while party system structuration in Latin America is somewhat lower than in Europe, it is also of a decisively different nature. In Latin America economic and socio-cultural policy positions are largely captured in a single overlapping dimension; in Europe, by contrast, competition occurs overwhelmingly along two dimensions, each with distinct clusters of policy positions.

Source: Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

DOI: 10.17615/gx0w-nn41

Authors: Hartlyn, Jonathan, Martínez-Gallardo, Cecilia, Hooghe, Liesbet, Bakker, Ryan, de la Cerda, Nicolás, Marks, Gary

Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Language: English

Topic: Electoral Systems and Political Participation

Subfield: Political Science and International Relations

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: green

Funder: European Commission