ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors aim to identify some of the more general, or common, patterns that have also been important in the evolution of Latin American party politics. They deal with the influence of social mobilization and other patterns of modernization on party politics, elections, and political behavior, and the responses of party politics to them. Transcending regional divisions sufficiently to permit national parties and voting patterns to evolve is often a critical threshold in party evolution in Latin America. Regionalism has played an important role in Latin American politics since independence, and the task of creating viable nations out of often disparate, hostile, and isolated regions has been a continuing preoccupation. Many Latin American traditions of party politics, elections, and democratic heritages predate those of most of Europe, and distinguish Latin America from other developing areas.
