Kirchheimer i Latinamerika- En undersökning av Catch- allpartier i Chile

Sammanfattning: Otto Kirchheimer coined the theory about the catch-all party 1966 as he observed a transformation of the West European party system. The transformation initiated with declining economic class and religious gaps in the societies of advanced democracies. This resulted in the electorate becoming more difficult to place according to specific ideological partition. Without a firm electoral base, the political parties were forced to make strategic choices and becoming vote maximizing at the expense of their ideology, resulting in the parties becoming increasingly similar as they compete for the median voter. Kirchheimer feared that with decreasing principled opposition, the parties would no longer be mediators between the population and the state, but a mere bureaucratic part of the latter. This development according to Kirchheimer results in politics lacking substance and meaningful choice. This paper applies Michelle Hale Williams model that enables empirical testing of specific cases regarding the theory of the catch-all party. The thesis goes beyond the initial geographical context of the theory, examining the society, electorate, parties and party system in Chile. The study shows that the party system in Chile displays bipolarization and the two main party blocks indicates catch- all tendencies.