The Rise of Outsiders in Latin America, 1980–2010: An Institutionalist Perspective
Abstract
One of the most significant developments in Latin American democracies since the beginning of the third wave of democratization is the rise to political prominence of outsider candidates in presidential elections. I use an original database of political outsiders in Latin America to examine the institutional factors that contribute to the emergence of political outsiders. Using a fixed effects variance decomposition (FEVD) model, I find that, in addition to the favorable conditions already identified in the literature—legitimacy crisis of traditional political parties and negative socioeconomic conditions—the rise of political outsiders is determined by institutional factors, such as nonconcurrent elections, compulsory voting rules, and reelection provisions.
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Weak or collapsing democratic political parties open the door to anti-system outsiders who threaten democratic institutions.
“Weak or collapsing democratic political parties open the door to anti-system outsiders who threaten democratic institutions (Linz 1994; Samuels and Shugart 2010; Carreras 2012; Mainwaring 2018; Self and Hicken 2018).”
From Parties, Civil Society, and the Deterrence of Democratic Defection (2020) · cites this paper as Carreras 2012
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Parties, Civil Society, and the Deterrence of Democratic Defection
Bernhard, M., Hicken, A., Reenock, C., & Lindberg, S. I. (2020) · Studies in Comparative International Development · doi:10.1007/s12116-019-09295-0 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
- Authors
- Carreras, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- Corresponding author
- Carreras, Miguel
- ORCID
- Carreras, Miguel
- Venue
- Comparative Political Studies
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2012-06-05
- Volume
- 45
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 1451-1482
- ISSN
- 0010-4140 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-3829
- OpenAlex
- W2126934377
- Cited by
- 123
- References
- 71
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 4
- FWCI
- 14.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Comparative Political Studies (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Dynamics in Latin America
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Politics and Society in Latin America
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
- Keywords
- political outsiders, outsider candidates, presidential elections, third wave of democratization, Latin American democracy, institutional factors, compulsory voting, socioeconomic conditions, electoral institutions
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