OUTSIDER AND ANTI-PARTY POLITICIANS IN POWER - NEW CONCEPTUAL STRATEGIES AND EMPIRICAL-EVIDENCE FROM PERU

This article argues for the need to distinguish two dimensions constit uting politicians' relationships to party systems: politicians are cla ssified as either outsiders or insiders, depending on their party syst em origins, and as either anti-party or party-tolerant, depending on t heir discourse vis-a-vis the party system. Using data gathered from th e recent Parliamentary Elites of Latin America survey in Peru, I find that party system origins and discourse vary significantly with party membership and with legislators' views on three sets of important poli tical issues: (1) democracy, elections and parties, (2) human rights a nd the role of the armed forces, and (3) the economy, labor and the ro le of the state. In addition, contrary to widely shared assumptions, b oth anti-party and party-tolerant outsiders in Peru show a greater aff inity for the ideological center than for the right, while both groups showed a marked disaffinity for the political left.