Democracy and Central America

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.

This volume represents a continuation and significant expansion of the study of the relationship of elections to democracy in Central America that the editors began with Elections and Democracy in Central America.

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

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.