It has become common for presidential candidates in Latin America to pick running-mates from outside of their own political parties in the form of political independents or politicians from other parties. As witnessed in several recent cases, this has added a new dynamic to Latin American presidentialism, not least in situations of political crisis. Drawing on a new database, the present paper enquires into the factors that may lead prospective presidents to select such external vice-presidents. The findings show that the logics behind selecting either a politician from another party or a political independent as running-mate differ. While the size of the presidential candidate's own party explains the decision to select vice-presidential candidate from another party, the choice of an independent is determined by the fragmentation of the party system. Furthermore, there is evidence that previous experiences of vice-presidential succession makes the selection of an independent running-mate more likely, possibly as a attempt to guard against challenges to the future presidency. Generally, presidential hopefuls tend to pick external running-mates who lack a strong political following, which also indicates that electoral logic is often mitigated by concern for the stability of the eventual presidency.

Vice-presidents in Latin America have often been at the centre of political turbulence. To prevent conflicts within the executive, most Latin American countries have therefore put in place formulae to elect presidents and vice-presidents on a joint electoral ticket. Still, it is common for presidential candidates to pick running mates from other parties in order to construct alliances and appeal to a broader set of voters. But the presence of such 'external' vice-presidents seems to increase the risk of presidential interruption in general and impeachment processes in particular. Accordingly, we argue that the frequently overlooked institution of the vice-president deserves attention as a possible intervening variable that can contribute to the explanation for government crises and their outcomes in Latin America.

El presente volumen agrupa una selección de disertaciones que fueron producidas en diferentes universidades suecas en años recientes. Decidimos incluir estudios de diversas disciplinas, sobre diferentes países latinoamericanos y temas de investigación. También incluimos autores de distintas universidades para presentar un ejemplo amplio de las investigaciones que tienen lugar en las distintas instituciones suecas. Esta selección no pretende ser representativa de la investigación sueca sobre Latinoamérica. Además, y como será señalado en el anexo, hay un gran número de estudios recientes de excelente nivel que no ha sido posible incluir. Esperamos, sin embargo, que esta selección permita comprender cómo se desarrollan en Suecia los estudios sobre Latinoamérica; cuáles son algunos de sus áreas de interés, así como los desafíos que enfrentan los académicos que se embarcan en la tarea de estudiar un continente lejano. Pero, sobre todo, esperamos que este libro cumpla con el propósito de servir como estímulo para generar más vinculos de investigación entre Suecia y América Latina.

2015:5 Sida Decentralised Evaluation / Utvärderingen av den svenska strategin för demokratistöd för part Anslutna Organisationer (PAO) fann PAO att ge stöd som är relevant för den politik den svenska regeringen. Utvärderingen visade utgångar som ska genomföras som planerat och effektivt på individnivå, men med begränsad institutionell förändring. Detta begränsar bidrag till målet strategi av demokratisk politisk utveckling. Effekten är också av PAO beslut att engagera mottagarna från mer än sjuttio länder, ofta från parter med endast marginell nationellt inflytande. Bristerna i den nuvarande utformningen, utan tvekan, härrör från det faktum att medlen till PAO för systerpartistödet fördelas enligt antalet platser i den svenska riksdagen, snarare än prestanda. Det finns således ett behov av att tänka över utformningen i syfte att förbättra kvalitet och hantering av risker.

This essay presents a comparison “repeat candidacies”, i.e., failed presidential contenders who return to win subsequent elections in five Latin American countries. By comparing their failed electoral bids with successful ones, I attempt to gauge the relative influence of factors that are external to the candidates in question and the ones over which they have control, such as policy proposals and alliances.

The analysis indicates the importance of factors that are political in nature for success. Whereas social and economic variables appear to have scant explanatory value, an aspect such as the composition of the opposition seems much more influential. In particular, moderation in proposals and presentation appears as an important factor distinguishing successful campaigns from failed ones. In order to show the effects of such moderation, I calculate what I call “proportionality scores” that show how broadly a candidate appeals across the political spectrum. The fact that successful candidates have managed to simultaneously appeal to different ideological, ethnic and socio-economic groups gives a somewhat different perspective on Latin America’s supposed “left turn”, and indicates the need to pay more attention to political agency in explanations for political developments on the continent.

The last fifteen years have seen candidates from the political left win the presidency in most Latin American countries. Paradoxically, this has occurred without the electorate making any concurrent move to the left of the ideological spectrum. Survey evidence reveals that both with regard to ideological self-placement and opinion on individual issues, most of the continent’s voters are stubbornly placed in the political centre.

The present paper advances an explanation for this paradox. Drawing on individual examples, it sketches an explanation based on the campaign tactics of the successful leftist candidates, which seem to have been able to simultaneously attract voters on the left and the centre. The paper discusses ways in which such a broadening of political appeal has been accomplished. Subsequently it presents on-going work on a data-base of political campaigns in Latin America, and discusses some variables that would allow for a test of the above hypothesis.