Candidate Matters

This study, which focuses mainly on the Pachakutik political party in Ecuador, integrates results of local field work with a view of campaigns in a more global context... Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. * J. M. Rosenthal, Western Connecticut State University, CHOICE *
This is a very good book and will ultimately be seen as a major contribution to understanding the development of parties. West makes a very important point — even ethnic parties behave like other parties. Candidates run for election to win, and how they campaign shapes the kind of party that emerges. Indeed, parties in the global South, even ethnic parties, develop in ways similar to parties in the global North, and that the candidates that parties run critically shape how the parties evolve as organizations. * John Ishiyama, University of North Texas *
This fascinating book by Karleen Jones West corrects a long-standing assumption that ethnic parties are primarily policy seekers as opposed to office seekers. Not only does she find that they care about both goals, but her research on Latin America also calls the reader's attention to an important lacuna in party scholarship, that of intraparty politics. She demonstrates that the goals of parties — even the allegedly most programmatic ones — are shaped and constrained by the actions of individual candidates. * Bonnie M. Meguid, University of Rochester *
Candidate Matters convincingly demonstrates how ethnic parties are less exceptional than conventionally assumed. Leveraging impressive data collected through extensive fieldwork on the campaign trail in Ecuador as well as region-wide quantitative analysis, West establishes the candidate-level origins of party linkage strategies and shows how ethnic and traditional parties alike use broad policy appeals, clientelism, and group-based incorporation. Candidate Matters is impressive in the breadth of its argument and the richness of its empirical evidence. It is essential reading not only for those interested in ethnic parties but for scholars and students of parties and representation across the board. * Jana Morgan, University of Tennessee *
Karleen Jones West provides an incisive analysis of the relation of campaign strategies and party behavior. With in-depth field work and statistical analysis, she goes far beyond description to explain how and why a party may be able to emphasize programmatic goals while still using personalist strategies to win votes. In so doing, West distinguishes between candidate and district factors, which by itself is an important theoretical contribution. * Scott Morgenstern, University of Pittsburgh *