Ethnic cleavages and electoral volatility in Latin America

Ethnic cleavages have significantly influenced electoral volatility in Latin America, but not in the way that theories of social cleavages and electoral volatility would predict. The failure of the traditional political parties in Latin American to represent the indigenous population adequately has led indigenous people gradually to shift their votes away from these parties, resulting in high levels of electoral volatility in indigenous areas. This argument is explored through a national-level analysis of the determinants of electoral volatility in Latin America as a whole and a provincial-level analysis of the causes of electoral volatility in Bolivia.