Spain and Portugal

The modern religious history of Spain and Portugal begins with the religious unity between the state and society forged around Catholicism, and ends with the present era epitomized by ongoing secularization and incipient religious pluralism. With some difficulty, the Catholic Church adapted to the trials posed by nineteenth-century liberalism, reaching an accommodation with the constitutional monarchies in both Iberian countries. The first serious challenge came with the arrival of the republics in Portugal in 1910 and in Spain in 1931. The republics did not last long, however; two Catholic dictatorships governed the fate of the Peninsula until the 1970s, though separation of church and state was formally maintained in Portugal. The dictatorships ended in 1974 and 1975, respectively, giving way to the establishment of new democracies, accompanied on the one hand by secularization in both the state and society, and on the other by growing religious pluralism.

Political Socialization in New Democracies: Legacies of Repression and Pre-Democratic Partisanship

Family socialization is a key mechanism for the transmission of political attitudes and behaviors. Work in developed democracies highlights the role of family socialization in the stability of partisanship across generations. But what of family socialization in new democracies? In this paper, we develop a framework for understanding how experiences with state repression and the process of family socialization influence new democracies after transition from authoritarian rule. In doing so, we combine findings from established literature on processes of family socialization with political psychological work on how repression crystallizes political identities. We examine how individual-level experiences of state repression shape political participation and partisanship in Tunisia, an important and rare contemporary case of successful (and still ongoing) democratic transition. Drawing on a nationally representative survey conducted in 2017, we find evidence that Tunisian citizens whose family and community members who were arrested are more likely to vote in subsequent democratic elections and to vote against the old regime. While individuals who were arrested under the previous authoritarian regime are less likely to turn out to vote, in line with research on the demobilizing effects of repression, those that do vote are strong partisans and are more likely to vote for the former opposition and anti-old regime parties. This paper lays out a broader project on how the different socialization processes in authoritarian regimes affect political attitudes and behaviors after democratization.

Political Parties and Democratization

Parties are indispensable to the building and maintenance of democracy. This is because parties are purported to promote representation, conflict management, integration, and accountability in new democracies. Second, the failures of parties in helping to build democracy in systems in transition are because they have not performed these functions very well. Third, there are three emerging research agendas to be explored that address the relationship between parties and democratic consolidation: (a) the promotion of institutional innovations that help build institutionalized party systems; (b) the role of ethnic parties in democratization and democratic consolidation; and (c) the role of rebel parties in building peace and democracy after civil wars. Although not entirely exhaustive, these three agendas represent promising avenues of research into the role political parties play in democratization.

Voluntary Association Involvement and Political Participation in South Korea

While studies suggest that voluntary association involvement leads to more political participation in the U.S. and European countries, the relationship remains debatable in new democracies. Using the Current Social Integration Survey from 2015 to 2018 in South Korea, this study examines the relationship between voluntary association engagement and participation in political activities based on the social capital theory and explores whether the results vary by the types of voluntary associations and multiple memberships in the associations. The results suggest that memberships in voluntary associations are positively associated with voting and engagement in political activities. Additionally, only memberships in certain types of associations are related to voting and engagement in political activities.

Constitutions and Gender Equality in Chile and Argentina

Gender equality provisions have become nearly standard in constitutional design for new democracies. How do such provisions affect the ability of women’s rights advocates to achieve social change? To address this question, we compare the political use (legislation, policy, and judicial interpretation) of these provisions in Chile and Argentina, countries that differ with respect to how they have constitutionalised gender rights. The comparative analysis demonstrates how gender-specific constitutional provisions provide a legal basis and legitimacy for women’s rights advocates to advance new policy, protect policy gains, and pursue rights-based cases through the courts.

Confronting the Past Abuses: Indonesia and Southeast Asia

This article examines the politics of reconciliation in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. It focuses in particular on the case of Talangsari killings in Indonesia and makes a regional comparison with Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines and Myanmar. The Indonesian experience illustrates some of the complex issues that arise when attempts are made to dealing with past abuses, especially in the context of the constraints and possibilities faced by new democracies. In a comparative perspective what is being experienced in Indonesia is not new in the sense that, as argued by scholars elsewhere, new democracies also have to face this kind of situation.1 This article argues that dealing with the past human rights abuses brings about real power struggles among the contending actors and power holders and it reflects the power structures within and outside the country. It is suggested that there is no “universal” model for dealing with past human rights abuses but some form of accountability which brings together the elements of prosecution, reconciliation and forgiveness could be considered.

The Evolution of New Party Systems: Voter Learning and Electoral Systems

How do new party systems evolve over time? This article argues that party system evolution requires the solution of coordination problems that voters face in early elections; this happens through a learning mechanism. Elections reveal information to voters, who update their beliefs about party viability and the distribution of voters’ preferences and adjust their behaviour. The institutional setting, however, strongly conditions the pace of learning. Restrictive electoral systems (single-member district) accelerate learning through the harsh penalties they impose on miscoordination, while permissive ones (proportional representation) prolong it. Testing the argument on a district-level dataset in new democracies provides ample support; voters learn to cast fewer wasted votes over time and this happens faster in single-member district systems. The findings point to a trade-off between consolidation and representation; while party system evolution is facilitated by restrictive electoral systems, the presence of distinct social groups in the political arena is better served by permissive ones.

Party System Closure

The Introduction starts with some examples of pairs of old and new democracies, some larger, some smaller, some in the East, some in the South, and illustrates how party system development can differ despite very similar background conditions. We then proceed to identify four main factors that differ within each pair, as possible explanations of the way party politics in general, and partisan interaction in particular, evolved in different countries. After stating the aims of the book and how it builds on previous studies, we summarize its main conceptual, operational, and methodological innovations, putting specific emphasis on the importance of history and a combination of large- and small-N studies. Finally, we explain the logic and structure of the book with a brief summary of the content of each chapter.