New Political Parties and the Challenge of Institutionalization in Argentine Party Systems. An Analysis of the Propuesta Republicana Party

Since the return of democracy in 1983, an increasing number of (new) political parties have emerged in the national political arena. This paper takes as a case study the evolution and performance of the newest of these political parties: Propuesta Republicana (PRO). As far, PRO has showing a performance and a degree of institutionalization similar to the most important new political parties created in the last three decade: strong personalization, organizational expansion to a reduced area of performance (broadly, to a metropolitan areas), and a low degree of institutionalization. New political parties have failed in succeed in two challenges: a process of institutionalization and in expanding their party organization nationwide (Altavilla 2014). Most of those new political parties have failed to extend their existence in time, ending reduced to the very minimum, or directly disappearing. However, unlike any of those new parties, PRO has won the presidential office in the last election (November, 2015). The article starts with a consideration about the existing literature about part institutionalization. Then, it considers the case of Argentina and, in particular, the case of PRO. Taking the concept of institutionalization as a process (Panebianco 1988, Randall and Svåsand 2002, Basedau and Stroh 2008), the paper describes the evolution of party as an organization, since its creation to nowadays, its transformation from a district party to a national party, the number of elections in which took part and the internal organization. In describing and measuring institutionalization, the article follows the three dimensions proposed by Harmel, Svasand and Mjelde (2015): (1) “internal” or “organizational” routinization of behavior, (2) the party “lasting power”, and (3) “objective” durability ("objective” institutionalization). The paper ends with some preliminary conclusions about a specific case based on a new party, but with some (important) implications to the new political party system landscape.