Class and Conservative Parties

by Gibson, Edward L.

• ISBN13: 9780801867217
• ISBN10: 0801867215
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-04-15
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr

Summary

What promotes or hinders the development of conservative parties in Latin America? What does this augur for the stable representation of the propertied and socially privileged in political parties? In Class and Conservative Parties, Edward L. Gibson examines these questions in light of Latin America's long legacies of authoritarianism and democratic instability. Gibson explores these questions theoretically, historically and comparatively. He develops an approach to the comparative study of conservative parties that sheds new theoretical light on the social dynamics of party politics. Historically, he traces the determinants of conservative party development in Argentina, providing a rich analysis of how interactions between conservatism's elite "core constituencies," party leaders, and the state shaped the rise and fall of conservative parties in the 19th and 20th centuries. Gibson also presents a comparative examination of conservative party politics in Latin America during the 1980s and 1990s and offers a thoughtful look ahead to conservatism's future in the region.

Author Biography

Edward Gibson is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Northwestern University.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	ix
Preface and Acknowledgments	xiii
Acronyms	xix
Conservative Parties and Democratic Politics	1	(28)
Region, Class, and Conservative Parties: The Trials of Argentine Conservatism, 1880--1976	29	(46)
Authoritarian Crafting of Conservative Democracies: The Failed Transition in Argentina, 1979--1982	75	(27)
Party Leaders and Democratic Transitions: Argentine Conservatism in the 1983 Founding Elections	102	(31)
Conservative Party Building: The UCEDE in Buenos Aires, 1983--1989	133	(47)
Shifting Arenas of Political Action: Conservatives and the State during the Menem Presidency	180	(30)
Conclusions: Problems of Conservative Party Development in Latin America	210	(21)
Appendix: Argentine Heads of Government Since 1862	231	(2)
Notes	233	(32)
Author Index	265	(3)
Subject Index	268