How to Craft a Presidential Tool
Personalisation, Party Organisation and Lawmaking
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21820102 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Raúl Aldaz Peña (0000-0002-1028-9018, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-23 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Politics in Latin America (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1868-4890 • E-ISSN: 1866-802X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1866802x261462168 |
| OpenAlex | W7165632758 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 43 |
It is expected that presidents would rely on their own parties to advance their policy agenda. But parties are not unitary actors; they contain policy differences that can set back presidents’ plans. What needs to happen inside a party to make it an effective presidential tool? I propose that internal rules that concentrate decision-making power can help overcome preference heterogeneity and support a president-led policy agenda. Focusing on Rafael Correa's time in power (2007–2017), I use a mixed-method strategy to trace a process of organisational changes. This process shaped how the party dealt with policy differences and helped the president accelerate the approval of his agenda and preserve his preferred policy content. These findings show how a party can go through a process of personalisation and the conditions under which a ruling party can become an effective presidential tool
Craft · Lawmaking · Preference · Presidential system · Unitary state · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Politics and Society in Latin America · Populism, Right-Wing Movements
Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America
Why Parties?
Presidentialism and Democracy in Latin America
Party Systems in Latin America
Coalitional Presidentialism in Comparative Perspective
What is a Political Party?
Party in Democratic Theory
Multi-Method Social Science
Event History Modeling
Patria ya es de él
The iron law of Erdogan
Inside the black box
The Industrial Organization of Congress; or, Why Legislatures, Like Firms, Are Not Organized as Markets
Survival Analysis and European Union Decision-making
Legislative Coalitions and Judicial Turnover under Political Uncertainty
The Executive Toolbox
When Congress Prevails
Contemporary trends in party organization
Rethinking intra-party cohesion
Pathways to party unity
Dimensions of Legislative Conflict
An Integrated Theory of Party Goals and Party Change
Preferences and agreement in legislative parties
Disentangling legislative duration in coalitional presidential systems
Cross‐National Measures of Party Organizations and Organizational Theory
Rethinking the ‘presidentialism debate
Latin America's Reactive Assemblies and Proactive Presidents
Unified Government, Bill Approval, and the Legislative Weight of the President
Inside Revolutionary Parties
Competing Principals, Political Institutions, and Party Unity in Legislative Voting
Oiling Congress
Tall, Grande, or Venti
Social and Political Diversity and the Democratic Road to Change in Venezuela
Nested Analysis as a Mixed-Method Strategy for Comparative Research
External Appeal, Internal Dominance
Coalition Erosion and Presidential Instability in Ecuador
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |