Party Identification and the Crisis of Representation. Latin America in a Comparative Perspective

According to Mainwaring, Bejarano and Pizarro (2006), what is observed today is a crisis of representation rather than a crisis of Latin American presidential systems. Surveys provide ample evidence of this problem considering the low level of attachment to parties as representative institutions. This is true both for countries with high and low levels on the party institutionalization index. This article analyzes the identification with parties according to a set of socio-demographic and political variables. Conclusions are, first, that although party identification has declined consistently in the region, reasonable levels of political identification have been maintained on the left-right axis. Second, that while many youth have lower identification levels, this does not apply uniformly to all countries. Thirdly, one of the most stable predictors of party disaffection corresponds to the difficulties of the state in providing basic public goods for citizens.