A Closer Look: The Legacy Period
Sedimentation of Three Legacies in Chile
The following excerpts from Scully’s (1992: 172-84) book employ different conceptualizations of change in analyzing the interaction among the legacies of three critical junctures.
Layering
“Successive lines of cleavage leave layers of political attitudes, beliefs, and loyalties analogous to layers of paint on a canvas” (172).
“For, much like layers of paint on a canvas, party systems possess a multidimensional character bestowed upon them by successive lines of cleavage. Party leaders make choices not only on the basis of positions the party may have taken with respect to the principal axis of cleavage but also on the basis of earlier lines of conflict possibly long since submerged” (180).
Partial Displacement
“The original crystallization of Chilean parties in the nineteenth century and their subsequent evolution were associated with the displacement of one conflict by another. When one cleavage is displaced by another, the old conflict does not simply disappear, but the party system acquires a new rationale, shaped but no longer defined by the earlier conflict” (172).
Cycles of Conflict Displacement
“There is a cyclical quality to conflict displacement in party systems. When party systems are in the throes of a major transformation, political discourse is marked by deep emotion, and the relations of opposing passion subsides, but the basic attitudes, beliefs, and loyalties formed during the period of conflict remain…” (179).
“In sum, party evolution is best understood as a sequence of fundamental conflicts that break upon the political landscape with enormous power, arouse the passions of a significant part of the electorate, and crystallize into distinct party options. To understand the behavior of parties, it is helpful to know what part of the cycle of conflict displacement is currently being experienced” (180).
Discontinuous Change
Notwithstanding the above patterns, sharp discontinuities are also important. Thus, “Party systems are characterized by deeply embedded interests and longstanding patterns of behavior that may make them resistant to change, especially exogenous change, over long periods of time. As this book has shown, unlike much socioeconomic change (which tends to be incremental), political transformation, when it occurs, is often abrupt and discontinuous. In fact, it is possible that a profound change in socioeconomic structure, particularly one that occurs incrementally, might never become politicized in the form of a generative cleavage or become reflected at the level of the party system. Similarly, a major generative cleavage might become politicized and successfully alter patterns of party competition in the absence of fundamental socioeconomic change. In short, socioeconomic change is important for explaining political outcomes, but change in political institutions may be more discontinuous than patterns of structural change may imply” (174).
Layering
“Successive lines of cleavage leave layers of political attitudes, beliefs, and loyalties analogous to layers of paint on a canvas” (172).
“For, much like layers of paint on a canvas, party systems possess a multidimensional character bestowed upon them by successive lines of cleavage. Party leaders make choices not only on the basis of positions the party may have taken with respect to the principal axis of cleavage but also on the basis of earlier lines of conflict possibly long since submerged” (180).
Partial Displacement
“The original crystallization of Chilean parties in the nineteenth century and their subsequent evolution were associated with the displacement of one conflict by another. When one cleavage is displaced by another, the old conflict does not simply disappear, but the party system acquires a new rationale, shaped but no longer defined by the earlier conflict” (172).
Cycles of Conflict Displacement
“There is a cyclical quality to conflict displacement in party systems. When party systems are in the throes of a major transformation, political discourse is marked by deep emotion, and the relations of opposing passion subsides, but the basic attitudes, beliefs, and loyalties formed during the period of conflict remain…” (179).
“In sum, party evolution is best understood as a sequence of fundamental conflicts that break upon the political landscape with enormous power, arouse the passions of a significant part of the electorate, and crystallize into distinct party options. To understand the behavior of parties, it is helpful to know what part of the cycle of conflict displacement is currently being experienced” (180).
Discontinuous Change
Notwithstanding the above patterns, sharp discontinuities are also important. Thus, “Party systems are characterized by deeply embedded interests and longstanding patterns of behavior that may make them resistant to change, especially exogenous change, over long periods of time. As this book has shown, unlike much socioeconomic change (which tends to be incremental), political transformation, when it occurs, is often abrupt and discontinuous. In fact, it is possible that a profound change in socioeconomic structure, particularly one that occurs incrementally, might never become politicized in the form of a generative cleavage or become reflected at the level of the party system. Similarly, a major generative cleavage might become politicized and successfully alter patterns of party competition in the absence of fundamental socioeconomic change. In short, socioeconomic change is important for explaining political outcomes, but change in political institutions may be more discontinuous than patterns of structural change may imply” (174).