Central American History

In this new edition of a widely praised book, two of the most respected writers on Central American politics explore the origins and development of the region's political conflicts and efforts to resolve them. Highlights of the third edition include an analysis of the 1992 Salvadoran peace accord, the 1996 Nicaraguan national election and prospects for consolidation of democracy in Nicaragua, and Guatemala's troubled transition toward greater democracy, as well as a new chapter that examines how U.S. foreign policy during the 1970s and 1980s was shaped by the Cold War.

"A collection of essays that analyzes the historical antecedents of the current political crises in Central America. The essays provide a balanced interpretation of such themes as international power politics in Central America since the 19th century and the effects of cultural diversity and local interests in preventing the development of enduring political unity and economic integration. Latin Americanists and those interested in international politics at the upper-division undergraduate level and above will value this informative analysis of the volatile region." Choice

Introduction by John M. Kirk and George W. Schuyler Part I: Democracy El Salvador: "Democratization" to Halt the Insurgency by Guillermo Manuel Ungo Democratization in El Salvador: Illusion or Reality? by Liisa L. North Democracy, Military Rule, and Agrarian Reform in Guatemala by Jim Handy Consolidating Democracy Under Fire by H.E. Sergio Lacayo Honduras: National Identity, Repression, and Popular Response by Judith A. Weiss Part II: Development Central America: Dependent-Welfare, Authoritarian, and Revolutionary Concepts of Development by James Petras and Morris H. Morley One Road to Democracy With Development: Jose Figueres and the Social Democratic Project After 1948 by Anthony Winson Resisting Conquest: Development and the Guatemalan Indian by W. George Lovell Developing Democratic Education in Central America Means Revolution: The Nicaraguan Case by W. Gordon West Militarization, U.S. Aid, and the Failure of Development in El Salvador by Charles Clements Part III: Change New Social Movements in Central America: Perspectives on Democratic Social Transformations by James Petras Liberation Theology as a Force for Change by Blase Bonpane The Sanctuary Movement in the United States by Mary Ann Lundy Four Themes and an Irony by Walter LaFeber The Reagan Administration and Its Attempts to Thwart Change Wayne S. Smith The U.S. War in Central America by Ed Asner Obstacles to the Peace Process in Central America by Sandor Halebsky and Susanne Jonas Appendix: Central America: Socio-Economic Statistics

Lentner analyzes four basic components in the formation of states: the capacity to govern, security and freedom of action, economic development strategy, and citizenship and political participation. He focuses on five Central American countries--Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. His conceptual guidelines apply to the worldwide strivings today for autonomy, unity, economic development, and democracy. His extensive research into original and little-known secondary sources from the independence of these states to the present both in the United States and Central America make this an unusually rich text for graduate students and scholars dealing with Latin American studies, Inter-American affairs, and U.S. foreign policy.

Public violence, a persistent feature of Latin American life since the collapse of Iberian rule in the 1820s, has been especially prominent in Central America. Robert H. Holden shows how public violence shaped the states that have governed Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Linking public violence and patrimonial political cultures, he shows how the early states improvised their authority by bargaining with armed bands or montoneras. Improvisation continued into the twentieth century as the bands were gradually superseded by semi-autonomous national armies, and as new agents of public violence emerged in the form of armed insurgencies and death squads. World War II, Holden argues, set into motion the globalization of public violence. Its most dramatic manifestation in Central America was the surge in U.S. military and police collaboration with the governments of the region, beginning with the Lend-Lease program of the 1940s and continuing through the Cold War. Although the scope of public violence had already been established by the people of the Central American countries, globalization intensified the violence and inhibited attempts to shrink its scope. Drawing on archival research in all five countries as well as in the United States, Holden elaborates the connections among the national, regional, and international dimensions of public violence. Armies Without Nations crosses the borders of Central American, Latin American, and North American history, providing a model for the study of global history and politics.

This book consists of two interrelated essays dealing with the economic, social, and political changes that took place in Central America, changes that led to both Liberal regime consolidation and export agricultural development after the middle of the last century.

Ariel Armony focuses, in this study, on the role played by Argentina in the anti-Communist crusade in Central America. This systematic examination of Argentina's involvement in the Central American drama of the late 1970s and early 1980s fine-tunes our knowledge of a major episode of the Cold War era.

Basing his study on exhaustive research in the United States, Argentina, and Nicaragua, Armony adroitly demolishes several key assumptions that have shaped the work of scholars in U.S. foreign policy, Argentine military politics, and Central American affairs.

Examines the connection between the image and substance of Spain's democracy and the country's foreign policy in Central America. Rosenberg explores the idea of democracy in Central America, measures Spain's democratic successes and failures, and examines Spanish foreign policy in relation to the political situation in Central America.