Luna 2007

Luna, Juan Pablo. 2007. "Frente Amplio and the Crafting of a Social Democratic Alternative in Uruguay". Latin American Politics & Society. 49 (4): 1-30.

• The electoral success of the left is “built partly on a broad electoral movement that opposes neoliberal reforms and represents losers in this economic model” (3)
• differences among Left regimes derive from divergent ISI constellations, dissimilar structural reform patterns, and distinct party systems
• Thus:  each case should be examined with regard to:
• sociological opportunity structure
• political opportunity structure
• partisan adaption
• Uruguay has an unusual combination of:
• elite party structure that used ISI
• political party system that didn’t deinstitutionalize in neoliberal transition
• FA overcame tradeoffs between factions of party and across classes
• FA able to keep labor happy, while also extending reach to poor, those usually coopted by clientelistic elite parties
• Party has moderated, while labor movement as radicalized
• may be a future issue
• Data on electoral support for FA by district, class
• cross-class support in Montevideo,
• less, but growing support en el campo
• Sociological opportunity structure
• FA party for those who want to keep ISI
• no breakdown of party system, no electoral dealignment
• FA adopts Batllismo:  social democracy
• Uruguayans have less faith in market
• Clientelism of Colorado and Blanco unhelpful after neoliberal belt-tightening
• As C and B implement neolib, FA gaining votes, do C and B can’t go all the way with neoliberal reforms (trying to keep voters happy!)
• some areas able to protect their ISI benefits (read: labor), thus not destroyed by neoliberal policies
• Political Opportunity Structure
• Fiscal crisis = B and C can’t feed money to political/client machines
• FA ideology passed on through generations
• both of which means FA growing, B and C struggling
• Adaptation patter
• Fa had larger activist apparatus
• in the streets!
• and fomenting in between elections
• party moderates its views
• internal decentralization spread the word, got new areas involved in party
• Asamblea Uruguay and Movimiento de Participación Popular capture FA’s emerging constituency: poor, disaffected
• AU gets lower class, particularly in the interior
• MPP is broad, pragmatic
• also the party of Jose Mujica, another charismatic leader, who would later replace Vazquez as President
• Final conclusions:
• strength comes from keeping old constituents (labor), and attracting new ones (poor, but also middle and upper class)
• HOWEVER, this means party has two divergent factions
• party attempts to contain discontent within itself
• FA may have problem satisfying divergent constituents