Why Dominant Parties Lose: Mexico's Democratization in Comparative Perspective

Why have dominant parties persisted in power for decades in countries spread across the globe? Why did most eventually lose? Why Dominant Parties Lose develops a theory of single-party dominance, its durability, and its breakdown into fully competitive democracy. Greene shows that dominant parties turn public resources into patronage goods to bias electoral competition in their favor and virtually win elections before election day without resorting to electoral fraud or bone-crushing repression. Opposition parties fail because their resource disadvantages force them to form as niche parties with appeals that are out of step with the average voter. When the political economy of dominance erodes, the partisan playing field becomes fairer and opposition parties can expand into catchall competitors that threaten the dominant party at the polls. Greene uses this argument to show why Mexico transformed from a dominant party authoritarian regime under PRI rule to a fully competitive democracy.

Table of Contents:
Part I. The Macro Perspective: 1. A theory of single-party dominance and opposition party development; 2. Dominant party advantages and opposition party failure, 1930s–90s; Part II. The Micro Perspective: 3. Why participate? A theory of elite activism in dominant party systems; 4. The empirical dynamics of elite activism; Part III. Implications: 5. Constrained to the core: opposition party organizations, 1980s–90s; 6. Dominance defeated: voting behavior in the 2000 elections; 7. Extending the argument: Italy, Japan, Malaysia, and Taiwan.

About the Author :
Kenneth F. Greene is Assistant Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. His research on regimes, political parties and voting behavior has been published in the American Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, PS: Political Science and Politics, Politica y Gobierno, Foreign Affairs en Espanol, and edited volumes. He has served as Co-Principle Investigator on two National Science Foundation grants for elite and voter survey research in Mexico, won a Fulbright-Garcia Robles fellowship, and held visiting positions at the Center for Democracy and Civil Society at Georgetown University and the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2002.

Review :
"In this scholarly tour de force, Greene combines original formal models and other careful methods in developing a novel and persuasive argument for the longevity and decline of dominant parties. This book contributes significantly to our understanding of Mexican politics, the comparative study of competitive authoritarian regimes, and party formation." -Jorge I. Dominguez, Harvard University "Kenneth Greene's book contributes major insights to the comparative study of dominant party regimes, whether in an authoritarian or a democratic regime context, by showing why political activists cannot easily form a credible challenger to the incumbent party and linking this to political economic institutions and performance." -Herbert Kitschelt, Duke University "Kenneth Greene has produced an excellent and important contribution to the literature on the persistence and decline of dominant party systems in general, and on the Mexican case in particular. His resource theory of single-party dominance is married to an innovative model of the political behavior of party elites to show how the incumbent's patronage advantages make opposition parties undercompetitive. This well-argued and evidenced study will be of interest not only to Latin Americanists, but also to scholars of party system development more broadly." -Marcus J. Kurtz, Ohio State University "Why Dominant Parties Lose asks great questions about how some political parties become dominant and why they cease being dominant after an extended period of time. Greene answers these questions in a creative and skillful manner, with theoretical insight and empirical rigor. Based on many years of careful research, the book fruitfully illuminates the Mexican case and effectively places it in a broader theoretical framework." -Scott Mainwaring, Kellogg Institute for International Studies "Kenneth F. Greene [...]make['s] important, original contributions to this debate and to the broader analysis of political parties, elections and democratization. [...]Greene provides an important insight into the internal dynamics of opposition parties and the challenges they confront in dominant-party systems." -Kevin J. Middlebrook, University of London, Perspectives on Politics