Presidential power and political leadership under public opinion and citizenship mobilization pressure. Thoughts on Latin American recent evolution

CHERESKY ISIDORO

Fukuoka Japón

Congreso; · XX World Congress of the International Political Science Association (IPSA); 2006

International Political Science Association (IPSA)

The recent national elections and in particular Latin Americanpresidential ones show the changes occurred in the regioninstitutional and political life. It can be said that their generalsign was favourable to the strengthening of a left shift, reformist insome cases and with a refoundational vocation in others, but bothbringing about varied expectations of social change. Their relationwith the deinstitutionalization of the political system which, withnuances, it is often described as a general tendency, is ambiguous. Inone hand, the elections have turned out to be a pacifying resourcefacing the political crisis, but in the other hand it must behighlighted that the same electoral struggle sets in the scene a deepprocess of political representation metamorphosis in which politicalidentities construction is produced mostly in the public space andmore and more as citizen identity. With a tradition or socialorganization support or not, is the own leadership action in theelectoral struggle for differentiation the one that leads toidentities renovation and frequently gives rise to the emergency ofnew candidacies and political groups, given the weakening oftraditional political parties.