Abstract

In this chapter we ask two questions: First, we ask whether these governments, exemplifying best-case scenarios in Latin America, have embarked on a viable path toward a sustainable social democratic welfare state. Second, we ask whether and why they differ in their approaches and progress on this path, paying close attention to how the parties' organizational characteristics influence this variation. In their introduction, Levitsky and Roberts classify the left parties in Chile and Uruguay as an "institutionalized partisan Left," distinguished between an "electoral-professional" Left and a "mass-organic" Left. Uruguay's FA is an example of a mass-organic left party, while Chile's PS is an example of an electoral-professional left party. We contend that this difference in organizational character has important consequences for the types of social policy reform adopted.

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2013

Comments

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Publisher Statement

Copyright © 2013 Johns Hopkins University Press. This chapter first appeared in The Resurgence of the Latin American Left.

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