Democratic Deepening and Political Parties: The National Implementation of Binding Participatory Institutions

Date: 

Tuesday, October 1, 2019, 12:00pm

Location: 

CGIS South, S250, 1730 Cambridge Street

Speaker: Jared Abbott, PhD candidate, Department of Government
Moderator: Fernando Bizzarro, PhD student, Department of Government; Graduate Student Associate, DRCLAS

Jared Abbott Why are local-level participatory institutions implemented nationally in some countries but only adopted on paper in others? Through detailed case studies of Venezuela and Ecuador, I show that this occurs when 1) the incumbent part is under pressure from below to implement BPIs, and 2), the party’s political opponents are not capable of taking advantage of BPIs for their own electoral gain. Under these conditions, parties will place a lower value on the costs of BPI implementation than on electoral benefits they offer.

Jared Abbott is a PhD candidate in Government at Harvard University.

Fernando Bizzarro is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Government at Harvard and a Graduate Student Associate to the DRCLAS. A political scientist from Brazil, he researches the nature, causes, and consequences of democracy and political parties in Latin America.

The Tuesday Seminar Series is a bring your own brown bag lunch series. Please feel free to enjoy your lunch at the lecture, drinks will be provided.