This is cross-posted at the LAPIS blog:
Is anyone interested in helping me put together a panel on political parties in Latin America for the 2009 LASA Congress (in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)? I’m currently working on a project on the “migratory patterns” political actors within Bolivian political parties. I’d love to put together a comparative panel based on cases studies of similar (or dissimilar) phenomenon in other countries.
The panel would look at some common themes: Why do political actors migrate (i.e. “cambio de camisetas” or “tranfugios”) to different parties? And what does this say about party systems in Latin America? Are these migrations policy-driven (i.e. do leftist move within the left, centrists within the center, etc.)? Or do they reflect clientelistic wheeling and dealing? How do institutional rules (e.g. electoral systems) and historical legacies affect these migratory patterns?
I’m hoping to draw together a panel that looks at a broad range of countries, using different methods, and from different academic perspectives. Please let me know (centellm@dickinson.edu) if you’re interested.
The proposal deadline is March 2008. But I want to get started on this right away.
