Abstract

MARTINEZ ROSON, María del Mar. Political Ambition and Loyalty: Influence on Political Behavior. Polít. gob [online]. 2011, vol.18, n.2, pp.231-264. ISSN 1665-2037.

The objective of this article was to analyze the influence that political contexts and political careers exert on the behavior of legislators, through the use of the Elites Parlamentarias Latinoamericanas (PELA) database of the Universidad de Salamanca, which centers on three Central American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras. Relying on a theoretical division between retrospective and prospective loyalties, the results suggest that the behavior of lawmakers is influenced by their future job prospects. This influence becomes clear when the aspect being evaluated is exclusive, namely, when it does not allow legislators to cultivate loyalties that would secure their professional future without damaging their retrospective loyalties. When political parties control the continuity of political careers, the percentage of lawmakers who place the interests of their districts above the interests of their party is greater among those not seeking to continue their political careers than among those who wish to remain in politics.

Keywords : ambition; political career; behavior; Central America.

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