The Outcomes Of Insurgency And Party System Stability In Central America
Abstract
Political parties that have emerged from civil conflicts in Central America have experienced uneven levels of success and significant variation in competition. In the case of Nicaragua, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) has won several national elections against a limited opposition that has struggled to consolidate. In El Salvador, two parties, the Farabundo Mart National Liberation Front and the Nationalist Republican Alliance, emerged from the civil conflict. Each has individually been able to consolidate power and win national elections. What explains this variation in party system stability? This thesis contends that the variation is determined by the outcomes of the insurgencies and how those outcomes have subsequently contributed differently to the distribution of political power. Insurgencies that were outright successful, such as the FSLN, tended to consolidate more power than those that were not. In El Salvador, for instance, two parties shared political power as a result of an unsuccessful insurgency that ended in peace negotiations. This outcome allowed political power to be more evenly distributed. Party system stability has been historically uneven throughout the region since the third wave of democratization, a phenomenon that can alternatively be explained by the distribution of political power following civil war.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1114224
Entities
People
- Daniel M. Hickman
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School