Subnational Political Dynasties & Democracy: Argentina, Brazil & Mexico

Abstract: 

The transfer of power among members of a single family is common in monarchies or traditional political systems and the existence of political dynasties is normally associated with patrimonial forms of rule. It is usually assumed that this should not occur too often in a democracy, where party competition and electoral alternation are supposed to prevail. Yet political dynasties are more common than we imagine in contemporary democracies. In Latin American, the existence of political families is a well-known fact.

Since the early 20th century, national and subnational politicians in Latin America’s three largest federations – Argentina, Brazil and Mexico – have been related to other elected politicians. Even if we don’t always see them at the head of national governments, they are extensive at the subnational level. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico initiated democratic transitions that opened the political system to greater contestation, participation, and enforcement of electoral rules. Yet, more than four decades after the onset of democratization in Argentina and Brazil, and after the demise of single-party rule in Mexico, political families and dynasties continue to be important in politics. It is even more noticeable at the subnational level, where governors with blood or marital links to other politicians have governed in a great number of provinces and states.

In this lecture, Professor Behrend will map the existence of subnational political dynasties in the three federations since the transition to democracy and analyze why none of the theories that would normally be used to explain their prevalence can account for this phenomenon in an obvious way.

Hosted by Professor Par Engstrom, Associate Professor of Human Rights at the UCL Institute of the Americas.