Civic organizational and political party membership: a comparison of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay.

In the post transition period of the 1990s, political parties have lost some of their dominance, the state has shrunk and new forms of civic organizations have come into being. This paper uses the 1997 World Value survey to analyze how these changes have shaped the relationship between political party membership and civic organizational membership in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. While some politicians have feared the rise of civil society, this paper shows that there continues to be a strong link between civic organizational membership and party membership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]