Parties are the major actors democracies. They have been acknowledged repeatedly as the critical link between voters, representatives and guarantors of democratic governance. Without them, a democracy can hardly be said to exist because they are the principal links between government and society. However, parties can lose their representative capacity, and be challenged by disaffected electorates that pursue other alternatives for political involvement. This book focuses upon the electoral weakening of Latin America?s traditional parties. These parties suffered electoral declines because, among other reasons, they accumulated a history of poor economic performance and of unresolved representational shortcomings. Parties that had been key actors in the establishment and consolidation of new democratic regimes failed to adequately perform in the economic and political realms during the first years after transitions from dictatorships. Although debilitated, many traditional parties in Latin American democracies remain today as central actors that shape political processes. Others in fact have disappeared. The
