Research Catalog

Title

The success of the left in Latin America : untainted parties, market reforms, and voting behavior / Rosario Queirolo.

Author

Queirolo, María del Rosario.

Publication

Notre Dame, Indiana : University of Notre Dame Press, [2013]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xviii, 205 pages: illustrations; 23 cm.

Summary

"Why, since the beginning of the twenty-first century, have so many Latin American countries elected governments identifying themselves with the ideological Left? In The Success of the Left in Latin America: Untainted Parties, Market Reforms, and Voting Behavior, Rosario Queirolo argues that the "pink tide" that swept across Latin America beginning in the late 1990s--with the election of a growing number of leftist political candidates to public office--was caused by the intent of voters to punish political parties unable to improve the economic well-being of their electorates. She argues that Latin Americans vote based on performance, ousting those whom they perceive as responsible for economic downturns, and ushering into power those in the "untainted opposition," which has been the Left in most Latin American countries. Queirolo argues that the effects of neoliberal economic reforms did not produce more votes for political parties on the Left. Rather, the key variable is unemployment. Left-leaning parties in Latin America increase their electoral chances when unemployment is high. In addition to explaining recent electoral successes of leftist parties, The Success of the Left in Latin America also undermines a dominant scholarly view of Latin Americans as random and unpredictable voters by showing how the electorate at the polls holds politicians accountable. "Rosario Queirolo's The Success of the Left in Latin America: Untainted Parties, Market Reforms, and Voting Behavior makes a valuable contribution to the study of Latin American politics and of comparative politics more generally. Queirolo makes a compelling argument that the general shift to the Left in Latin America was less a straightforward protest against neoliberal policies but more strongly a reaction to negative economic performance. Enriched with extensive survey data, her book is authoritative and persuasive." --Elizabeth J. Zechmeister, Vanderbilt University"--

Series Statement

The Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies

Subjects

• Latin America > Politics and government > 21st century
• Unemployment > Political aspects > Latin America
• Liberalism > Latin America
• Right and left (Political science) > Latin America
• Latin America > Economic conditions > 21st century
• Socialism > Latin America
• Political culture > Latin America
• Political parties > Latin America

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-195) and index.

Call Number

JFE 14-1571

ISBN

• 9780268039790 (pbk.)
• 0268039798 (paper)

LCCN

2013029854

OCLC

842209334

Author

Queirolo, María del Rosario.

Title

The success of the left in Latin America : untainted parties, market reforms, and voting behavior / Rosario Queirolo.

Publisher

Notre Dame, Indiana : University of Notre Dame Press, [2013]

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

The Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-195) and index.

Research Call Number

JFE 14-1571