Why party organization still matters: The Workers' Party in Northeastern Brazil

Does party organization still matter? Much of the party literature suggests that politicians, who can use substitutes like mass media to win votes, lack incentives to invest in party organization. Yet it remains an electoral asset, especially at lower levels of government. Evidence from Brazil's Workers' Party (PT) indicates that party elites invest in organization when they prioritize lower-level elections and that this investment delivers electoral returns. In the mid-2000s, the PT strengthened its support across levels of government in the conservative, clientelistic Northeast. Drawing from underutilized data on party offices, this article shows that organizational expansion contributed substantially to the PT's electoral advances in the Northeast. While President Lula da Silva's (PT) 2006 electoral spike in the Northeast resulted from expanded conditional cash transfers, the PT's improvement at lower levels followed from top-down organization building. The PT national leadership deliberately expanded the party's local infrastructure to deliver electoral gains.

Title	Why party organization still matters: The Workers' Party in Northeastern Brazil
Creator	Van Dyck, Brandon
Publisher	Latin American Politics and Society
Academic Department	Government & Law
Division	Social Sciences
Organization	Lafayette College
Date Issued	2014
Date Available	2016-06-06T14:50:22Z
Type	Article
Language	English
Bibliographic Citation	Van Dyck, B. (2014) "Why party organization still matters: The Workers' Party in Northeastern Brazil." Latin American Politics and Society 56 (2): 1-26.
Standard Identifier	DOI 10.1111/j.1548-2456.2014.00229.x
Standard Identifier	Handle 10385/2120
Permalink	http://hdl.handle.net/10385/2120
Rights Statement	In Copyright
Rights Holders	University of Miami