Introduction: Political Parties and Social Movements in Latin America (2011–2016)

Abstract

This work aims to explain the autonomization process of civil society vis-a-vis the political parties in Latin America, after the occurrence of the ‘Latin American social spring’ (2011–2016). Indeed, if several case studies have emerged explaining a detachment between political parties and civil society in Latin America, no work has systematized the comparison to the whole region. Thus, I join theories from two different but complementary fields in political science literature: political representation and social movements’ theories. Then I proceed to a test of four hypotheses, aiming to explain the detachment phenomenon, using QCA methodology. The main findings are that the permanence, or rise, of a strong cleavage system and the participation of the state to the socio-economic process constitute determinant conditions explaining the political (de)alignment in the region.