This article evaluates structural, institutional, and actor-centered explanations of the collapse of the Peruvian party system around 1990 and its surprising partial recovery in 2001. It begins by describing the changes in the dependent variable, the emergence, collapse, and partial resurrection of the 1980s Peruvian party system. The next section examines the argument that the large size and rapid growth of the informal sector undermined the party system and led to its collapse. The author shows that the evidence does not support this argument. The article then examines changes in the electoral system. The author demonstrates that, contrary to theoretical expectations, the changes in the electoral system do not correlate with the observed changes in the party system. The final section shows that performance failure by political elites, including corruption in government, was more important than social cleavages or electoral institutions in the collapse and partial recovery of the party system.
Balbi, CarmenRosa , & Gamero, Julio. (1990). Los trabajadores enlos 80: Entre la formalidad y la informalidad [Workers in the ‘80s: Between formality and informality]. In Movimientos sociales: Elementos para una relectura(pp. 55-109). Lima, Peru: Centro de Estudios y Promoción del Desarrollo.
2.
Bustamante, Alberto . (1990). Informalidad: Superando las viejas tesis [Informality: Overcoming the old theses]. In De marginales a informales(pp. 15-32). Lima, Peru: Centro de Estudios y Promoción del Desarrollo.
3.
Cameron, Maxwell . (1994). Democracy and authoritarianism in Peru: Political coalitions and social change. New York: St. Martin’s.
4.
Cameron, Maxwell . (1997). Political and economic origins of regime change in Peru: The eighteenth brumaire of Alberto Fujimori. In Maxwell A. Cameron & Philip Mauceri (Eds.), The Peruvian labyrinth: Polity, society, economy(pp. 37-69). University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
5.
Cameron, Maxwell , & Mauceri, Philip. (1997). Introduction. In Maxwell A. Cameron & Philip Mauceri (Eds.), The Peruvian labyrinth: Polity, society, economy(pp. 1-9). University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
6.
Carbonetto, Daniel , Hoyle, Jenny,& Tueros, Mario. (1988). Lima: Sector informal [Lima: Informal sector]. Lima, Peru: Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo y la Participación.
7.
Carrión, Julio . (1998). Partisan decline and presidential popularity: The politics and economics of representation in Peru. In Kurt Von Mettenheim & James Malloy (Eds.), Deepening democracy in Latin America(pp. 55-70). Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
8.
Chávez, Eliana . (1990). El empleo en los sectores populares urbanos: De marginales a informales [Employment in the popular urban sectors: From marginal to informal]. In De Marginales a Informales(pp. 71-124). Lima, Peru: Centro de Estudios y Promocion del Desarrollo.
9.
Cotler, Julio . (1995). Crisis política, “outsiders” y democraduras: El “Fujimorismo” [Political crisis, outsiders, and democraduras: Fujimorism]. In Carina Perelli, Sonia Picado,& Daniel Zovatto (Eds.), Partidos y clase política en América Latina en los 90(pp. 117-142). SanJosé, Costa Rica: Instituto Interamericano de Derechos Humanos.
10.
De Soto, Hernando , Ghersi, Enrique,& Ghibellini, Mario. (1986). El otro sendero: La revolución informal[The other path: The informal revolution]. Lima, Peru: El Barranco.
11.
Dietz, Henry . (1998). Urban poverty, political participation, and the state: Lima 1970-1990. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
12.
Duverger, Maurice . (1954). Political parties. London: Methuen.
13.
Franco, Carlos . (1991). Exploraciones en “otra modernidad”: De la migración a la plebe urbana [Exploration in the “other modernity”: From migration to the urban plebe]. In Henrique Urbano (Ed.), Modernidad en los Andes(pp. 189-212). Cusco, Peru: Centro de Estudios Regionales Andinos “Bartolomé de las Casas.”
14.
Grofman, Bernard , & Lijphart, Arend (Eds.). (1986). Electoral laws and their political consequences. New York: Agathon.
15.
Grompone, Romeo . (1991). El velero en el viento: política y sociedad en Lima[Sailboat inthe wind: Politics and society in Lima]. Lima, Peru: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos.
16.
Guillermoprieto, Alma . (1990, October 29). Letter from Lima. The New Yorker, 66, 116-129.
17.
Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática . (1992). Perú: Estadísticas del sector informal [Peru: Informal sector statistics]. Lima, Peru: Author.
18.
International Labour Organization . (2002). STAT Working Paper No.1—2002: ILO compendium of official statistics on employment in the informal sector. Geneva, Switzerland: Author.
19.
Jones, Mark . (1995). Electoral laws and the survival of presidential democracies. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
20.
Jones, Mark P. (1999). Electoral laws and the effective number of candidates in presidential elections. Journal of Politics, 61(1), 171-184.
21.
Kelley, Bruce . (1994). The informal sector and the macroeconomy: A computable general equilibrium approach for Peru. World Development, 22(9), 1393-1411.
22.
Kenney, Charles . (1998). Outsider and anti-party politicians in power: Newconceptual strategies and empirical evidence from Peru. Party Politics, 4(1), 57-75.
23.
Lipset, Seymour Martin ,& Rokkan, Stein. (1967). Cleavage structures, party systems, and voter alignments: An introduction. In Seymour Martin Lipset & Sein Rokkan (Eds.), Party systems and voter alignments: Cross national perspectives(pp. 1-64). New York: Free Press.
24.
López, Sinesio . (1991). El dios mortal: Estado, sociedad y politíca en el Perú del siglo XX [The mortal god: State, society, and politics in Peru in the 20th century]. Lima, Peru: IDS.
25.
Lynch, Nicolas . (1999). Una tragedia sin héroes: La derrota de los partidos y el origen de los independientes, Perú 1980-1992[A tragedy without heroes: The defeat of the parties and the origin of the independents, Peru 1980-1992]. Lima, Peru: Fondo editorial de la Universidad de San Marcos.
26.
Mainwaring, Scott . (1999). Rethinking party systems in the third wave of democratization: The case of Brazil. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
27.
Mainwaring, Scott ,& Scully, Timothy. (1995). Introduction: party systems in Latin America. In Scott Mainwaring & Tim Scully (Eds.), Building democratic institutions: Parties and party systems in Latin America, (pp. 1-34). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
28.
Matos Mar, J. (1985). Desborde popular y crisis del estado[Popular overflow and state crisis]. Lima, Peru: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos.
29.
McClintock, Cynthia . (1999). Peru: Precarious regimes, authoritarian and democratic. In Larry Diamond, Jonathan Hartlyn, Juan Linz, & Seymour Martin Lipset (Eds.), Democracy in developing countries: Latin America(2nd ed., pp. 309-365). Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.
30.
McClintock, Cynthia . (1994). Presidents, messiahs, and constitutional breakdowns in Peru. In Juan J. Linz & Arturo Valenzuela (Eds.), The failure of presidential democracy: The case of Latin America(pp. 286-321). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
31.
Payne, J. Mark , Zovatto, Daniel, Carillo Flóres, Fernando, & Allamand Zavala, Andrés (Eds.). (2002). Democracies in development politics and reform in Latin America. Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank & International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance.
32.
Planas, Pedro . (1996). ¿Existe un sistema de partidos en el Perú? [Does a party system exist in Peru?]. In Fernando Tuesta Soldevilla (Ed.), Los enigmas del poder: Fujimori 1990-1996 (pp. 169-201). Lima, Peru: Fundación Friedrich Ebert.
33.
Planas, Pedro . (2000). La democracia volátil: Movimientos, partidos, líderes políticos y conductas electorales en el Perú contemporáneo[Volatile democracy: Politicalmovements, parties, leaders and electoral behavior in contemporary Peru]. Lima, Peru: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
34.
Portes, Alejandro , & Schauffler, Richard. (1996). Competing perspectives on the Latin American informal sector. In Satya R. Pattnayak (Ed.), Globalization, urbanization, and the state: Selected studies on contemporary Latin America(pp. 145-177). London: University Press of America.
35.
Rae, Douglas . (1971). The political consequences of electoral laws(Rev. ed.). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
36.
Roberts, Kenneth . (1999). Deepening democracy? The modern left and social movements in Chile and Peru. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
37.
Roberts, Kenneth ,& Wibbels, Erik (1999). Party systems and electoral volatility in Latin America: Atest of economic, institutional, and structural explanations. American Political Science Review, 93 (3): 575-590.
38.
Rossini, R. G. , & Thomas, J. J. (1990). The size of the informal sector in Peru: A critical comment on Hernando de Soto’s El otro sendero. World Development, 18(1), 125-135.
39.
Sartori, Giovanni . (1994). Comparative constitutional engineering: An inquiry into structures, incentives, and outcomes. New York: New York University Press.
40.
Schmidt, Gregory . (2000). Accounting for unexpected preferences in electoral design: The distrito unico and preferential voting in Peru. Miami, FL: Latin American Studies Association.
41.
Schmidt, Gregory . (1996). Fujimori’s 1990 upset victory in Peru: Electoral rules, contingencies, and adaptive strategies. Comparative Politics, 28(3), 321-354.
42.
Shugart, Matthew Soberg , & Carey, JohnM. (1992). Presidents and assemblies: Constitutional design and electoral dynamics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
43.
Taagepera, Rein ,& Shugart, Matthew Soberg. (1989). Seats and votes: The effects and determinants of electoral systems. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
44.
Tanaka, Martín . (1998). Los espejismos de la democracia: El colapso del sistema de partidos en el Perú, 1980-1995, enperspecti va comparada [The mirages of democracy: The collapse of the party system in Peru, 1980-1995, incomparati ve perspective]. Lima, Peru: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos.
45.
Tantaleán Arbulú, Javier . (1996). ¿Liquidación de los partidos? Ideología neoliberal y ciclos políticos enla historia [Liquidation of the parties? Neoliberal ideology and political cycles in history]. Socialismo y Participación, 73, 81-94.
46.
Thomas, Jim . (1999). El mercado laboral y el empleo [The labor market and employment]. In John Crabtree & Jim Thomas (Eds.), El Perú de Fujimori(pp. 255-296). Lima, Peru: Universidad del Pacifíco, IEP.
47.
Tokman, Victor . (1991). El sector informal: Quince años después [The informal sector: Fifteen years later]. In Alejandro Toledo & Alain Chanlat (Eds.), Las otras caras de la sociedad informal: Una visión multidisciplinaria(pp. 37-70). Lima, Peru: ESAN/IDE.
48.
Tuesta Soldevilla, Fernando . (2001). Perú político en cifras, 1821-2001[Political Peru inn umbers: 1821-2001] (3rd ed.). Lima, Peru: Fundación Friedrich Ebert.
49.
Tuesta Soldevilla, Fernando . (1995). Sistema de partidos políticos en el Perú, 1978-1995 [Political party system in Peru, 1978-1995]. Lima, Peru: Fundación Friedrich Ebert.
50.
Wilson, Tamar Diana . (1998). Introduction: The urban informal sector. Latin American Perspectives, 25(2), 3-17.
51.
Wright, Stephen G. , & Riker, William H. (1989). Plurality and runoff systems and numbers of candidates. Public Choice, 60(2), 155-175.
52.
Yamada, Gustavo . (1996). Urban informal employment and self-employment in developing countries: Theory and evidence. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 44(2), 289-314.
