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
