The adoption of proportional representation in Western Europe has been portrayed as either a defensive or an offensive competition strategy used by established parties to deal with the rise of new parties under majoritarian electoral rules. Neither explanation accounts for PR reform in other regions of the world, where the change took place in the absence of increased party competition. Analyzing the history of electoral reform in Latin America, this article argues that in a context of limited party competition, the initial adoption of PR was part of a strategy of controlled political liberalization promoted by authoritarian rulers. Subdividing this general reasoning, the article shows that PR reform followed different paths depending on the nature of the authoritarian regime and the events that called into question the existing majoritarian electoral system. This argument is supported with a comparative historical analysis of cases within and across each route to reform.

中文翻译：

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有限政党竞争下的选举改革：拉丁美洲采用比例代表制

西欧采用比例代表制被描述为既定政党用来应对多数选举规则下新政党崛起的防御性或进攻性竞争策略。这两种解释都没有解释世界其他地区的公关改革，这些地区的变化是在没有增加政党竞争的情况下发生的。本文分析了拉丁美洲选举改革的历史，认为在有限的政党竞争背景下，最初采用公关是威权统治者推行的受控政治自由化战略的一部分。细分这个一般推理，文章表明，根据威权政权的性质和质疑现有多数选举制度的事件，公关改革走不同的道路。这一论点得到了对每条改革途径内部和跨途径案例的比较历史分析的支持。