Browsing by Autor "Laura Wills-Otero"

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Carta a los lectores
(Universidad de Los Andes, 2014) Laura Wills-Otero
Crisis en los sistemas de partidos y en los partidos políticos de la región Andina, 1978-2010. Explicaciones y perspectivas
(2011) Laura Wills-Otero
Este artículo muestra que los partidos tradicionales de la región Andina sufrieron declives electorales durante las últimas dos décadas (1990-2010). Aunque esta situación se presentó de manera generalizada, no todos los partidos perdieron la misma proporción de votos, ni al mismo ritmo. Mientras algunos de ellos se volvieron actores marginales o colapsaron, otros sobrevivieron y algunos incrementaron sus votaciones. Acá se sugiere que las estructuras organizativas internas de los partidos importan. Éstas son variables independientes que explican las diversas trayectorias electorales. Esta hipótesis complementa conclusiones de otros estudios que sugieren que las variables estructurales y políticas son las que inciden en los resultados electorales. Trabajos futuros en la materia deben probar empíricamente esta idea. Palabras Clave: Países andinos, América del Sur, democracia, Partidos políticos, elecciones. ABSTRACT Crisis in the party systems and parties in the Andean Region, 1978- 2010. Explanations and Prospects This article shows that traditional parties in the Andean region suffered electoral declines during the last two decades (1990-2010). Although this situation occurred as a generalized phenomenon, not all parties lost votes to the same extent, nor at the same pace. While some parties became marginal actors or collapsed, others survived and a few increased their levels of electoral support. In this paper I argue that the internal organizations of parties matter. They are independent variables that explain the diverse electoral trajectories among parties. This hypothesis complements other studies’ findings that argue that structural and political variables are those that impact parties’ electoral outcomes. Future works on this topic shall test this idea empirically. Key Words: Andean countries, South America, democracy, political parties, elections.
Desarrollo y Transformación de los Sistemas Electorales en América Latina, 1900-2021
(University of Chile, 2024) E.R. Pineda Armendáriz; Aníbal Pérez‐Liñán; Laura Wills-Otero; Cristhian Uribe Mendoza
Este trabajo presenta los resultados de un proyecto de investigación que analiza históricamente la evolución de los sistemas electorales en 20 países de América Latina y los Estados Unidos. Con el fin de superar las limitaciones en esta área de estudio, se ha creado una base de datos actualizada que rastrea la evolución de los sistemas electorales en la región, haciendo foco en las Cámaras Bajas de cada uno de los países, lo que permite comparar a los sistemas unicamerales y bicamerales. A su vez, se describen dos índices novedosos: el Potencial de Proporcionalidad y el Potencial del Voto Personal, que ayudan a comprender cómo impacta la magnitud del distrito en la proporcionalidad, y en la personalización del voto respectivamente.
Dickie Davis, David Kilcullen, Greg Mills, and David Spencer, A Great Perhaps? Colombia: Conflict and Convergence. London: Hurst, 2015. Maps, figures, tables, notes, bibliography, index, 288 pp.; hardcover $39.40.
(Cambridge University Press, 2017) Laura Wills-Otero
Dickie Davis, David Kilcullen, Greg Mills, and David Spencer, A Great Perhaps? Colombia: Conflict and Convergence. London: Hurst, 2015. Maps, figures, tables, notes, bibliography, index, 288 pp.; hardcover $39.40. - Volume 59 Issue 4
Dilemas de la vitalidad del partido político Centro Democrático (CD), 2013-2020
(Universidad de Los Andes, 2023) Johan Ortiz Rubio; Laura Wills-Otero
Objective/context: The organizational vitality of political parties is understood as their capacity to attract activists, keep them allied to the organization, and united among themselves. More vital parties promote greater participation of their activists and increase their ability to resist changing circumstances and exo- genous shocks. Four conditions explain the reproduction of political party vitality: trauma, programmatic purpose, channels of ambition, and exit barriers. This paper aims to analyze the vitality levels of the Centro Democrático (CD) party from the year of its creation (2013) until 2020. Methodology: The paper examines the case of the CD. Empirical support comes, fundamentally, from in-depth interviews with (former) leaders and activists of the CD and experts in the party. Secondary sources are also explored. Conclusions: As one of its main findings, this work highlights the moderate vitality of the CD. Trauma has a positive and significant relationship with vitality, while purpose, exit barriers, and ambition channels have positive effects, but smaller than those produced by trauma. A variable that mode- rates the behavior of the explanatory factors of vitality is the strong personalistic leadership of the founder of the party, former president Álvaro Uribe. Originality: This work contributes to understanding the organizational structures of political parties and their impact on their performance.
Editorial
(Universidad de Los Andes, 2013) Laura Wills-Otero
Electoral Competition at the Subnational Level. Emeralds and Politics in Colombia, 1997-2015
(Universidad de Los Andes, 2020) Margarita Batlle; Carlos Andrés Hoyos; Laura Wills-Otero
Objective/context: This article is part of a special edition of Colombia Internacional: “Transformaciones de los sistemas partidarios en América Latina” (Party system transformations in Latin America). It explains the transition from closed, non-competitive party systems to competitive party systems in Colombian emerald municipalities from the late 1990s until 2015. Methodology: We use a subnational approach within a unitary system to test a body of literature that has focused almost exclusively on federal countries. Furthermore, we show the importance of building bridges between the literature on subnational authoritarianism and that of rentier economies to analyze the Colombian case. Our analysis is based on quantitative and qualitative information: electoral data, interviews with key informants, observation and analysis of local and regional newspapers. Conclusions: Electoral competition in Colombian municipalities is heterogeneous, leading to different types of trajectories. Focusing on our case study in the Western province of the Boyacá department, Colombia, we argue that competitive systems emerged when local hegemonic elites lost economic and political power as a result of the emerald business’ decline. The configuration of competitive systems was therefore an effort by opposition parties to gain political power in contexts where local patrones (political bosses) were challenged by unexpected structural conditions, and by opposition leaders that took advantage of that situation. Originality: Although recent literature shows the Colombian party system has changed towards more competitive elections, these processes do not follow the same paths, nor do they share the same characteristics across the country. We focus on an insufficientlystudied region as a vehicle for understanding the way structure and strategy interact in specific electoral contexts: mining-dependent local economies.
Fernando Rosenblatt, Party Vibrancy and Democracy in Latin America. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2018. Illustration, tables, figures, abbreviations, appendix, bibliography, index, 304 pp.; hardcover $74, ebook.
(Cambridge University Press, 2019) Laura Wills-Otero
Fernando Rosenblatt, Party Vibrancy and Democracy in Latin America. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2018. Illustration, tables, figures, abbreviations, appendix, bibliography, index, 304 pp.; hardcover $74, ebook. - Volume 61 Issue 3
La renovación del conservadurismo tradicional a través de nuevos partidos.
(2021) Juan Carlos Rodríguez‐Raga; Laura Wills-Otero
Since the early 1990s, a significant percentage of traditional political parties in Latin America have declined in political and electoral power (Wills-Otero, 2016). Conservative parties in different countries suffered a process of disaffection on the part of their electorate, following neoliberal reforms that, in many cases, worsened the living conditions of citizens. Voters and parties became disconnected. Colombia was no stranger to this problem. Traditional parties have declined electorally since the enactment of the 1991 constitution that opened the political arena. In recent years, a new right-wing party, the Centro Democratico (cd), under the leadership of former President Alvaro Uribe, has managed to win over important sectors of the electorate. What have been the determinants in this recent electoral success? Our analysis of municipal-level data from the last two national elections suggests that the cd has been able to appeal in a distinctive way to voters in the nation's municipalities where the traditional Conservative Party held sway for much of the twentieth century.
LA RENOVACIÓN DEL CONSERVADURISMO TRADICIONAL A TRAVÉS DE NUEVOS PARTIDOS.EL CASO DEL CENTRO DEMOCRÁTICO EN COLOMBIA, 2014-2018*
(Universidad de la República, 2021) Juan Carlos Rodríguez‐Raga; Laura Wills-Otero
Since the early 1990s, a significant percentage of traditional political parties in Latin America have declined in political and electoral power (Wills-Otero, 2016). Conservative parties in different countries suffered a process of disaffection on the part of their electorate, following neoliberal reforms that, in many cases, worsened the living conditions of citizens. Voters and parties became disconnected. Colombia was no stranger to this problem. Traditional parties have declined electorally since the enactment of the 1991 constitution that opened the political arena. In recent years, a new right-wing party, the Centro Democrático (cd), under the leadership of former President Álvaro Uribe, has managed to win over important sectors of the electorate. What have been the determinants in this recent electoral success? Our analysis of municipal-level data from the last two national elections suggests that the cd has been able to appeal in a distinctive way to voters in the nation's municipalities where the traditional Conservative Party held sway for much of the twentieth century.
Una caracterización histórica de los partidos políticos de Colombia: 1958-2022 (A historical characterization of Colombian political parties: 1958-2022)
(RELX Group (Netherlands), 2023) Nicolas Cabra-Ruiz; Santiago Torres; Laura Wills-Otero; Valentina Castilla-Gutierrez
When the Business Sector Enters Party Politics: Conservative Mobilisation and Strategic Use of Threats
(SAGE Publishing, 2026) Gabriel Vommaro; Laura Wills-Otero
Why do business actors sometimes move beyond indirect influence and engage directly in party politics? This article examines the conditions under which economic elites adopt what we term a “party solution”: direct involvement in conservative parties through candidacies, organisational roles, and access to government. Drawing on a comparative analysis of Argentina and Colombia, it argues that this strategy is more likely when a sustained perception of threat to core economic interests converges with the availability of a conservative partisan vehicle capable of incorporating business actors. The analysis relies on process tracing based on press coverage, in-depth interviews, and legislative evidence. It examines Propuesta Republicana in Argentina and Centro Democrático in Colombia. In Argentina, business mobilisation responded to direct policy interventions by left-wing governments; in Colombia, it was driven by a forward-looking institutional threat. In both cases, business actors initially relied on conventional influence strategies before accepting visible engagement.