Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-cjp7w Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-26T05:47:43.106Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Internal Politics and Activism in Former Rebel Parties

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2022

Marcela Ibáñez Open the ORCID record for Marcela Ibáñez [Opens in a new window]  and
Kai Jäger Open the ORCID record for Kai Jäger [Opens in a new window]
Marcela Ibáñez*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
Kai Jäger
Affiliation:
Department of Political Economy, King's College London, London, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: marcela.ibanez@gess.uni-mannheim.de
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Who are the supporters of former rebel parties? Drawing on the classical party literature, we argue that the support base of former rebel parties consists predominantly of activists. These supporters are dissatisfied with intra-party politics because the benefits and costs of a rebel-to-party transformation are unequally distributed between them and the leadership. We test our arguments by examining the case of the novel FARC party (Comunes) in Colombia. Based on a unique sample of FARC supporters, we obtained unprecedented insight into the internal affairs of the FARC. Our survey design allowed us to generate an over-time comparison between FARC and other party supporters in the Colombian political system. The empirical analysis shows that in comparison, FARC supporters tend to be more politically active as well as more dissatisfied with internal politics. Furthermore, dissatisfaction with democracy and the peace agreement increased after their first electoral cycle.

Keywords

FARCparty supportersintra-party politicspost-civil war partiesrebel parties
Type
Article
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 58 , Issue 4 , October 2023 , pp. 824 - 842
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Government and Opposition Limited

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Albarracín, J, Gamboa, L and Mainwaring, S (2018) Deinstitutionalization without Collapse: Colombia Party System. In Mainwaring, S (ed.), Latin America Party Systems: Institutionalization, Decay and Collapse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 227–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aldrich, JH (1983) A Downsian Spatial Model with Party Activism. American Political Science Review 77(4), 974–990. https://doi.org/10.2307/1957570.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allison, ME and Álvarez, AM (2012) Unity and Disunity in the FMLN. Latin American Politics and Society 54(4), 89–118. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-2456.2012.00174.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Art, D (2011) Inside the Radical Right: The Development of Anti-Immigrant Parties in Western Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bawn, K, Cohen, M, Karol, D, Masket, S, Noel, H and Zaller, J (2012) A Theory of Political Parties: Groups, Policy Demands and Nominations in American Politics. Perspectives on Politics 10(3), 571–597. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592712001624.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bentancur, VP, Rodríguez, RP and Rosenblatt, F (2019) Efficacy and the Reproduction of Political Activism: Evidence from the Broad Front in Uruguay. Comparative Political Studies 52(6), 838–867. https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414018806528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broockman, DE and Green, DP (2014) Do Online Advertisements Increase Political Candidates’ Name Recognition or Favorability? Evidence from Randomized Field Experiments. Political Behavior 36(2), 263–289. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-013-9239-z.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curtis, DEA and Sindre, GM (2019) Transforming State Visions: Ideology and Ideas in Armed Groups Turned Political Parties – Introduction to Special Issue. Government and Opposition: An International Journal of Comparative Politics 54(3), 387–414. https://doi.org/10.1017/gov.2018.51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Zeeuw, J (2007) From Soldiers to Politicians: Transforming Rebel Movements after Civil War. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enos, RD and Hersh, ED (2015) Party Activists as Campaign Advertisers: The Ground Campaign as a Principal–Agent Problem. American Political Science Review 109(2), 252–278. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055415000064.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gamboa, L (2018) The Peace Process and Colombia's Elections. Journal of Democracy 29(4), 54–64. https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2018.0062.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greene, KF (2007) Why Dominant Parties Lose: Mexico's Democratization in Comparative Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heinisch, R and Mazzoleni, O (eds) (2016) Understanding Populist Party Organisation: The Radical Right in Western Europe. London: Palgrave.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ishiyama, J (2016) Introduction to the Special Issue ‘From Bullets to Ballots: The Transformation of Rebel Groups into Political Parties’. Democratization 23(6), 969–971. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2016.1189905.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ishiyama, J and Batta, A (2011) Swords into Plowshares: The Organizational Transformation of Rebel Groups into Political Parties. Communist and Post-Communist Studies 44(4), 369–379. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2011.10.004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ishiyama, J and Marshall, M (2015) Candidate Recruitment and Former Rebel Parties. Party Politics 21(4), 591–602. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068813487125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ishiyama, J and Marshall, M (2017) What Explains Former Rebel Party Name Changes after a Civil Conflict Ends? External and Internal Factors and the Transition to Political Competition. Party Politics 23(4), 364–375. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068815600913.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jäger, K (2017) The Potential of Online Sampling for Studying Political Activists around the World and across Time. Political Analysis 25(3), 329–343. https://doi.org/10.1017/pan.2017.13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jäger, K (2021) When do Party Supporters Abandon the Party Leader? The Intraparty Conflict of the Alternative for Germany. Party Politics 27(3), 478–488. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068819857177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitschelt, H (1989) The Internal Politics of Parties: The Law of Curvilinear Disparity Revisited. Political Studies 37(3), 400–421. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.1989.tb00279.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kreutz, J (2018) New Rebels in Postconflict Settings: The Principal–Agent Dilemma of Peacebuilding. Peace and Change 43(2), 218–247. https://doi.org/10.1111/pech.12284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Layman, GC, Carsey, TM, Green, JC, Herrera, R and Cooperman, R (2010) Activists and Conflict Extension in American Party Politics. American Political Science Review 104(2), 324–346. https://doi.org/10.1017/S000305541000016X.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magaloni, B (2006) Voting for Autocracy: Hegemonic Party Survival and Its Demise in Mexico. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maher, D and Thomson, A (2018) A Precarious Peace? The Threat of Paramilitary Violence to the Peace Process in Colombia. Third World Quarterly 39(11), 2142–2172. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2018.1508992.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
May, JD (1973) Opinion Structure of Political Parties: The Special Law of Curvilinear Disparity. Political Studies 21(2), 135–151. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.1973.tb01423.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michels, R (1915) Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy. New York: Hearst’s International Library Company.Google Scholar
Miller, G and Schofield, N (2003) Activists and Partisan Realignment in the United States. American Political Science Review 97(2), 245–260. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055403000650.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nussio, E and Quishpe, R (2019) La Fuerza Centrífuga Del Posconflicto. In McFee, E and Rettberg, A (eds), Excombatientes y Acuerdo de Paz Con Las FARC-EP En Colombia. Bogotá: Universidad de los Andes, pp. 163–188.Google Scholar
Nussio, E and Ugarriza, JE (2021) Why Rebels Stop Fighting: Organizational Decline and Exit from Colombia's Insurgency. International Security 45(4), 167–203. https://doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Panebianco, A (1988) Political Parties: Organization and Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Reuters (2018) Colombia FARC Rebel Dissidents Number 1,200, Military Says. Reuters, 20 March.Google Scholar
Ryan, TJ (2012) What Makes Us Click? Demonstrating Incentives for Angry Discourse with Digital-Age Field Experiments. Journal of Politics 74(4), 1138–1152. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022381612000540.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, TJ and Brader, T (2017) Gaffe Appeal: A Field Experiment on Partisan Selective Exposure to Election Messages. Political Science Research and Methods 5(4), 667–687. https://doi.org/10.1017/psrm.2015.62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Samuels, D and Zucco, C (2013) Using Facebook as a Subject Recruitment Tool for Survey-Experimental Research. Unpublished manuscript.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Samuels, D and Zucco, C (2014) The Power of Partisanship in Brazil: Evidence from Survey Experiments. American Journal of Political Science 58(1), 212–225. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12050.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sindre, GM (2016) Internal Party Democracy in Former Rebel Parties. Party Politics 22(4), 501–511. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068814550436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sindre, GM (2018) From Secessionism to Regionalism: Intra-Organizational Change and Ideological Moderation within Armed Secessionist Movements. Political Geography 64, 23–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2018.02.004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sindre, GM and Söderström, J (2016) Understanding Armed Groups and Party Politics. Civil Wars 18(2), 109–117. https://doi.org/10.1080/13698249.2016.1205559.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Söderberg Kovacs, M (2021) The Legacy of a Revolution That Never Happened: The Post-War Politics of Former Rebel Party RUFP in Sierra Leone. Government and Opposition: An International Journal of Comparative Politics 56(2), 245–259. https://doi.org/10.1017/gov.2019.23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Söderberg Kovacs, M and Hatz, S (2016) Rebel-to-Party Transformations in Civil War Peace Processes 1975–2011. Democratization 23(6), 990–1008. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2016.1159558.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stewart, MA (2018) Civil War as State-Making: Strategic Governance in Civil War. International Organization 72(1), 205–226. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818317000418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Ibáñez and Jäger supplementary material

Ibáñez and Jäger supplementary material

Download Ibáñez and Jäger supplementary material(File)
File 176.6 KB