Party government in Chile.

Abstract

The article analyzes the participation of parties in the governments of the Concertación in Chile, a subject known in political science as party government. The characteristics of this participation, and its effects on government, depend on the institutional features of the presidential system, in which the president plays the central decision-making role. This is due to the nature of the State, in which power is fragmented into dozens of institutions, and to strategic decisions taken by governments in defining the policies that they promote – which in turn affect electoral support for parties and thus influence their organization. We analyze the impact of two decades of unbroken government on electoral support for the parties which make up the Concertación, and their organization. The article provides conceptual and empirical elements for the analysis of a topic not considered in studies of the presidential system in Latin America.