Political parties in Latin America: toward a quality professionalization

This article sets off from the conviction of the relevance of political parties in representative democracies, and at the same time, from the situation of strong contestation on the side of the citizens and concludes that nonetheless the political parties continue having full validity as for their capacity to develop basic functions such as those of selection, formation, promotion and aperture of spaces for accountability for those who take politics as a profession. To do so, we supply empiric evidence on the contradictory situation experienced by the parties in Latin America of having political relevance at the same time of being challenged. Then, theoretical attention is paid to the figure of those who are devoted to politics as a career and their importance thus far poorly regarded. Finally, we introduce the theoretical aspects related to the quality of the politicians as a corollary of their profession.