This paper examines the collapse of the Venezuelan party system within the frame of a hyperinstitutionalized system characterized by low levels of uncertainty, the indifference of citizens, a closed political market, low credibility of party leadership and latent anti-party feelings. It is argued that institutionalization of party systems as proposed by Mainwaring and Scully (1995) is insufficient to analyze hyperinstitutionalized systems, for they produce systemic dynamics that go beyond the continuum and criteria used by the institutionalization approach. En this case, high levels of electoral stability were rooted not so much in the parties' capacity to adjust themselves but rather in the existence of a closed political market and an electoral institutionality that generated stability and facilitated the dominance of old parties, AD and COPEI. The Venezuelan case provides clues for the study of other party systems where traditional indicators show high levels of institutionalization, such as Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay.
Keywords:
party system, hyperinstitutionalization, Venezuela
Author Biography
Andrés Dockendorff Valdés, Universidad de Chile
Magister (c) en ciencia política, Universidad de Chile; profesor investigador de la Academia Nacional de Estudios Políticos y Estratégicos;
investigador asociado del Instituto de Asuntos Públicos, Universidad de Chile.
Dockendorff Valdés, A. (2010). The mirage of institutionalization: evolution of the party system in Venezuela. Estudios Internacionales, 43(166), p. 7–43. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-3769.2010.12617
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