Constituencies inside parties: the decriminalization of abortion in Bolivia and transgender rights law in Uruguay

Marzoa, Soledad - Pérez-Bentancur, Verónica - Piñeiro, Rafael - Rocha-Carpiuc, Cecilia - Rosenblatt, Fernando

Resumen:

Current theories employ a transactional approach to explain how a given constituency successfully advances its policy agenda. These theories focus on groups’ capacities to marshal material, mobilizational, or disruptive resources to exert influence on politicians. However, these theories cannot account for how constituencies lacking such resources nonetheless succeed at promoting their demands. We analyze two cases that involved the promotion of divisive issues—the decriminalization of abortion in Bolivia and the passage of a law recognizing transgender rights in Uruguay—to explain how social groups can advance their agendas. We show how these groups can engage in constitutive relations with parties, i.e., they influence party decision-making processes by acting as constituencies inside parties. In parties with formal and/or informal structures that allow their members to exercise voice, constituencies can exert agency and transform a party’s policy agenda without engaging in resource transaction. We outline this theory through two in-depth case studies using a systematic process-tracing analysis.

Detalles Bibliográficos
2025
Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovación
Partidos políticos
Grupos sociales
Aborto
Personas transgénero
Bolivia
Uruguay
Derechos humanos
Universidad Católica del Uruguay
LIBERI
https://hdl.handle.net/10895/4845
Acceso abierto
Licencia Creative Commons Atribución – No Comercial – Sin Derivadas (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
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author Marzoa, Soledad
author2 Pérez-Bentancur, Verónica
Piñeiro, Rafael
Rocha-Carpiuc, Cecilia
Rosenblatt, Fernando
author2_role author
author
author
author
author_facet Marzoa, Soledad
Pérez-Bentancur, Verónica
Piñeiro, Rafael
Rocha-Carpiuc, Cecilia
Rosenblatt, Fernando
author_role author
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dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Marzoa, Soledad
Pérez-Bentancur, Verónica
Piñeiro, Rafael
Rocha-Carpiuc, Cecilia
Rosenblatt, Fernando
dc.date.accessioned.none.fl_str_mv 2025-10-31T15:25:18Z
dc.date.available.none.fl_str_mv 2025-10-31T15:25:18Z
dc.date.issued.none.fl_str_mv 2025
dc.description.abstract.none.fl_txt_mv Current theories employ a transactional approach to explain how a given constituency successfully advances its policy agenda. These theories focus on groups’ capacities to marshal material, mobilizational, or disruptive resources to exert influence on politicians. However, these theories cannot account for how constituencies lacking such resources nonetheless succeed at promoting their demands. We analyze two cases that involved the promotion of divisive issues—the decriminalization of abortion in Bolivia and the passage of a law recognizing transgender rights in Uruguay—to explain how social groups can advance their agendas. We show how these groups can engage in constitutive relations with parties, i.e., they influence party decision-making processes by acting as constituencies inside parties. In parties with formal and/or informal structures that allow their members to exercise voice, constituencies can exert agency and transform a party’s policy agenda without engaging in resource transaction. We outline this theory through two in-depth case studies using a systematic process-tracing analysis.
dc.description.sponsorship.none.fl_txt_mv Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovación
dc.format.extent.es.fl_str_mv 46 p.
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.identifier.anii.none.fl_str_mv FCE_1_2021_1_166798
dc.identifier.uri.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/10895/4845
dc.language.iso.none.fl_str_mv en_US
dc.publisher.country.none.fl_str_mv UY
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Universidad Católica del Uruguay
dc.rights.license.none.fl_str_mv Licencia Creative Commons Atribución – No Comercial – Sin Derivadas (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights.uri.none.fl_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:LIBERI
instname:Universidad Católica del Uruguay
instacron:Universidad Católica del Uruguay
dc.subject.es.fl_str_mv Derechos humanos
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Partidos políticos
Grupos sociales
Aborto
Personas transgénero
Bolivia
Uruguay
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Constituencies inside parties: the decriminalization of abortion in Bolivia and transgender rights law in Uruguay
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/preprint
dc.type.version.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/submittedVersion
description Current theories employ a transactional approach to explain how a given constituency successfully advances its policy agenda. These theories focus on groups’ capacities to marshal material, mobilizational, or disruptive resources to exert influence on politicians. However, these theories cannot account for how constituencies lacking such resources nonetheless succeed at promoting their demands. We analyze two cases that involved the promotion of divisive issues—the decriminalization of abortion in Bolivia and the passage of a law recognizing transgender rights in Uruguay—to explain how social groups can advance their agendas. We show how these groups can engage in constitutive relations with parties, i.e., they influence party decision-making processes by acting as constituencies inside parties. In parties with formal and/or informal structures that allow their members to exercise voice, constituencies can exert agency and transform a party’s policy agenda without engaging in resource transaction. We outline this theory through two in-depth case studies using a systematic process-tracing analysis.
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publishDate 2025
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Universidad Católica del Uruguay
reponame_str LIBERI
repository.mail.fl_str_mv franco.pertusso@ucu.edu.uy
repository.name.fl_str_mv LIBERI - Universidad Católica del Uruguay
repository_id_str 10342
rights_invalid_str_mv Licencia Creative Commons Atribución – No Comercial – Sin Derivadas (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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spellingShingle Constituencies inside parties: the decriminalization of abortion in Bolivia and transgender rights law in Uruguay
Marzoa, Soledad
Partidos políticos
Grupos sociales
Aborto
Personas transgénero
Bolivia
Uruguay
Derechos humanos
status_str submittedVersion
title Constituencies inside parties: the decriminalization of abortion in Bolivia and transgender rights law in Uruguay
title_full Constituencies inside parties: the decriminalization of abortion in Bolivia and transgender rights law in Uruguay
title_fullStr Constituencies inside parties: the decriminalization of abortion in Bolivia and transgender rights law in Uruguay
title_full_unstemmed Constituencies inside parties: the decriminalization of abortion in Bolivia and transgender rights law in Uruguay
title_short Constituencies inside parties: the decriminalization of abortion in Bolivia and transgender rights law in Uruguay
title_sort Constituencies inside parties: the decriminalization of abortion in Bolivia and transgender rights law in Uruguay
topic Partidos políticos
Grupos sociales
Aborto
Personas transgénero
Bolivia
Uruguay
Derechos humanos
url https://hdl.handle.net/10895/4845