Chair:

• Carlos Gechem: carlos.gechem@uexternado.edu.co

SPEAKERS

Emanuel V.	Towfigh
Kristel	Ñopo Fernández

Within the framework of the theme ‘Democracy: Growth, Retrogression, Repair, and Reactivation’, a workshop is proposed consisting of an analysis of the true role of political parties in Latin American democracies.

The subject of political parties must be viewed from at least two complementary points of view. On the one hand, beyond the ideological elements that appear in the definition of political parties or their vocation for permanence and national presence, one cannot forget that the principal aim of parties is to access power.

On the other hand, parties constitute the exclusive path of access to power. That is to say, in principle, only through them can a citizen access positions of power.

Consequently, the crisis of political parties is, without a doubt, the crisis of democracy. In that order of ideas, the study of the growth or retrogression of democracy passes through the study of the true role played by parties in a determined political system.

Based on the foregoing, it is proposed to conduct a working group on the reality of political parties in Latin America. It is worth considering, amongst many other topics: What is the true specific weight of partisan organisations in our democracies? Can our political system be conceived without parties?