Conservatives against the Tide: The Rise of the Argentine PRO in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

This Element in the Elements series addresses the success of conservative parties in nonauthoritarian contexts in contemporary Latin America. It places the core case of Argentina’s Republican Proposal (PRO) party in comparison with Argentina’s Recrear, Colombia’s Democratic Center (CD) party, and Bolivia's Social Democratic Movement (MDS) in an effort to understand their differing degrees of success in adverse circumstances. Based on long-term research carried out using a variety of methods, this Element shows that the PRO’s success has been driven by three factors: programmatic innovation by personalistic leaders; organizational mobilization of both core and noncore constituencies; and elite fear of the “Venezuela model.”