Designs for Institutional Multilevel and Political Denationalization Analysis. The Rise of the Frente Renovador in Misiones

Abstract

From the theoretical perspective of political nationalization, and given the historical and social characteristics of the Province of Misiones, it would be natural to assume the local party system is both integrated and nationalized. A detailed electoral analysis of the period 1983-2011 in the province shows how, from 2003, together with the rise of the Frente Renovador, a strong political denationalization process started to take place. The goal of this work is to show these transformations in the political party system are more likely to derive from the fact that multilevel institutional designs generate institutional conditions through which the diverse subnational civic communities integrating multilevel democratic States make an impact on party systems, triggering political denationalization processes whenever they manage to disengage from national politics. To underpin this argument, the rise of the Frente Renovador of Misiones is analysed in detail.