bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The U.S. Imperial State in Cuba 1952–1958: Policymaking and Capitalist Interest
Authors: Morley Morris H.
Published: February 2009

The literature on American foreign policy tends to emphasize nonstructural (national security, ideological, strategic, bureaucratic, etc.) factors in seeking to account for the differing U.S. government responses to nationalist movements that challenge for and/or capture state power in the Third World. In those instances where structural (e.g. economic) factors are acknowledged to be significant, they are still generally accorded a secondary role in the shaping of policy actions. As a result, most interpretations are rooted in discrete policy actions linked to particular and time-bound events unrelated to any core concept that could serve as an organizing principle (e.g. a theory of capital expansion) for understanding the observed continuities in U.S. policy over historical time. In contrast, this study contends that a focus on theinterfacebetween permanent (economic) and short-term (non-economic) objectives provides a more adequate explanation of U.S. imperial state policy in specific conjunctures. It is proposed that while ‘national security’ concerns, strategic interests, ideological outlooks and bureaucratic conflicts may directly influence Washington's policy toward Third World nationalism, these factors must also be understood in a context in which they converge, or are intertwined, with underlying long-term economic concerns (investment, trade relations, access to strategic raw materials, etc.)
Unity and Diversity in Latin American History
Authors: Roxborough Ian
Published: February 2009

This article has its origins in a generalized feeling of dissatisfaction with current theories about political development trends in Latin America. It is an early statement of a series of arguments which will subsequently be developed in a forthcoming book.

The veritable explosion of empirically grounded monographs in the last fifteen or twenty years has made the task of producing a synthetic account of Latin American development simultaneously more pressing and more difficult: more difficult because it has made simple explanatory models harder to sustain, and has opened up the accepted historiography to serious and widespread revisionist attack; more pressing because many, if not most, social scientists accept the need to develop a theory of social change which is historically grounded, capable of explaining large-scale social transformations. My concern in this article is with the methodological issues involved in the formulation of an adequate theory of Latin American development, rather than with establishing new facts. There is considerable historiographical controversy over many of the events discussed in this article, and in these cases I have made my own judgement about where, on balance, the evidence points.
Latin America, Her Newly Industrialising Countries and the New International Economic Order
Authors: Parkinson F.
Published: February 2009

The New International Economic Order is an ill-defined concept which is nonetheless of considerable political importance. Non-existing in present-day international reality, it represents a vision, especially on the part of developing countries, of a future in which the latter will be an integral part of the world economy, instead of existing at its margins. As an idea, the New International Economic Order was given formal expression in 1974, though its historical roots go back to at least 1960.
On Comparative History: A Reply to Tom Brass
Authors: Bergad Laird W.
Published: February 2009

In his comment on my article ‘Coffee and Rural Proletarianization in Puerto Rico, 1840–1898’ (Journal of Latin American Studies, XV, no. 1, May 1983, pp. 83–100), Tom Brass is to be lauded for the comparative observations used to contest my conclusions on proletarianization in the coffee-producing regions of 19th-century Puerto Rico. By examining some of the literature on coffee expansion in Brazill and Colombia, and comparing these cases with Puerto Rico, Dr Brass concludes that the development of capitalist agriculture, when accompanied by labour scarcity, results in ‘unfree labour’ rather than the development of free wage labour as I have indicated to be the case for Puerto Rico' coffee sector.
Thinking about Current Vatican Policy in Central and East Europe and the Utility of the ‘Brazilian Paradigm’
Authors: Cava Ralph Della
Published: February 2009

This text is a preliminary assessment of the potential for comparative and ‘trans-systemic’ study of the current role of the Roman Catholic Church in Central and East Europe. For observers of Vatican policy in world affairs, there is every reason to believe that the Church, now engaged in rapidly rebuilding its own institutions in Central and East Europe, will play a decisive part in shaping the future societies of the region in the coming decade, just as it did in Brazil and the rest of Latin America in the immediate post-war era. In fact, the recent history of the Church in Latin America, but above all Brazil, provides a timely and useful paradigm for helping fathom the current course of Vatican policy in Central and East Europe. In turn, the results of comparative inquiry may even serve to stimulate an entirely fresh discussion of the Brazilian and Latin American experience.
The Degree of Military Political Autonomy during the Spanish, Argentine and Brazilian Transitions
Authors: Zaverucha Jorge
Published: February 2009

The state of civil–military relations in the world, especially in the Third World, is very well summed up by Mosca's statement that civilian control over the military ‘is a most fortunate exception in human history’.

All over the globe, the armed forces have frequently preserved their autonomous power vis-à-vis civilians. They have also succeeded in maintaining their tutelage over some of the political regimes that have arisen from the process of transition from military to democratic governments, as in Argentina and Brazil. Spain is a remarkable exception. Today, Spain, despite its authoritarian legacy, is a democratic country. The constituted civil hierarchy has been institutionalised, military áutonomy weakened, and civilian control over the military has emerged. Spain's newly founded democracy now appears quite similar to the older European democracies.
Selling Neoliberalism: Brazil's Instituto Liberal
Authors: Nylen William R.
Published: February 2009

In the 1980s more and more Latin American countries attempted to address daunting economic problems with variations on the so-called neoliberal theme. While one should have expected governments to implement some form of short-term fiscal and monetary adjustments to address the region's generalised fiscal crisis, it was less inevitable that this neoclassical formula should coincide with a more long-term structural adjustment formula, including such neoliberal (or neo-orthodox) policies as privatisation of State-owned companies, liberalization of tariffs, and reduction of the public sector workforce. As a result of this policy mix, the normal recessionary impact of adjustment intensified. The clamour for protection from that impact, and/or for putting an end to the policies themselves, has also intensified not only from the popular sector (that perennial target of all adjustments), but from the ranks of economic elites as well.
The 1989 Presidential Election: Electoral Behaviour in a Brazilian City
Authors: Kinzo Maria D'Alva Gil
Published: February 2009

The two and a half years of the Collor de Mello government were marked by so many dramatic events that the significance of the election which made him the first directly elected President in 29 years was not accorded the attention it derserved. A succession of events made the 1989 election results lose much of their interest for debate and study: the drastic after the inauguration of his government; the marketing campaign every time Collor appeared in the media; and, above all, the serious accusations of corruption involving his wife, relatives, close friends and Collor himself leading to his impeachment in December 1992.
Imperial ‘Free Trade’ and the Hispanic Economy, 1778–1796
Authors: Fisher John
Published: February 2009

It has been traditional for students of the Hispanic world in the eighteenth century to identify the introduction of ‘free trade’ between Spain and her American empire as the cornerstone of the Bourbon programme of economic reform. The reasons which they cite are subsumed with admirable clarity by the preamble to the famous Regiamento para el comercio libre of October 12, 1778 itself: the king was convinced, it explained, that ‘only a free and protected Commerce between European and American Spaniards can restore Agriculture, Industry, and Population in my Dominions to their former vigour.
Labour and the War-Time Alliance in Costa Rica 1943–1948
Authors: Miller Eugene D.
Published: February 2009

Costa Rica has won praise for its democratic traditions and social stability. Social scientists have attributed this to many factors: the country's benign colonial past, its small and relatively homogeneous population, the existence of a land owning peasantry, and the development, beginning in the 1930s, of a social welfare state. As it did elsewhere, the Great Depression marked a crossroads in Costa Rica's development. In response to the collapse of its international markets and the ensuing labour unrest, the state jettisoned its economic liberalism, and assumed an interventionist role in the management of the economy and labour–capital relations. This fundamentally reformist role developed through the 1930s and culminated in 1943 with the passage of a package of Christian-based social reforms including a comprehensive labour code under the administration of Rafael Calderón Guardia (1940–4).
Elections, Political Parties and Political Culture in Brazil: Changes and Continuities
Authors: Moisés José Alvaro
Published: February 2009

The 1989 presidential elections confirmed the thesis that Brazilian voters use their ballots as weapons to express their dissatisfaction with the performance of their governments and, in particular, with the incumbents' ability to cope with the serious economic difficulties that have plagued Brazil in recent decades. Nearly thirty years after the last free presidential elections, the ballots cast across Brazil and in all segments of the society reflected a heightened plebiscitary tendency, especially in the most developed regions of the nation, that is, in modern Brazil. Looking at recent political history, we can observe that this trend became generalised in the 1970s, with the crisis of the authoritarian regime. Faced with a two-party system (Arena and MDB) imposed by the ruling military, the electorate voiced its protest by voting against authoritarianism and, in principle, in favour of democracy. Now that the authoritarian regime is no longer there, democracy seeks its consolidation – but the voters continue voting against; that is, they continue to use their ballots to reject incumbent governments (the 1986 elections being the only exception). The big change, however, is that now, in addition to reproving administrations which they deem inadequate, the voters are also protesting against the backwardness and vices of traditional Brazilian politics and, more specifically, against the practices of corruption, favouritism, and privatism.
The Population of the City of Querétaro in 1791
Authors: Wu Celia
Published: February 2009

The city of Santiago de Querétaro lies about 120 miles north of Mexico City on the edge of the plains of the Bajío. Founded in 1562 by Fernando de Tapia, an Otomí chieftain, it soon attracted Spanish settlements, so that by 1609 it became avillaand in 1656 a city.1The time when it became famous for its prosperity was the eighteenth century. It was in this period that Querétaro replaced Puebla as the chief centre of the woollen textile industry since it lay closer to the great sheep estancias of Coahuila. The north was also the chief market for its cloth. But according to the Capuchin Friar, Francisco de Ajofrín, the maize and wheat trade of the haciendas of the surrounding district was more important than the textile industry and the workshops specializing in leather goods. As we shall see, the families which owned these estates often lived in Querétaro, so that the city was te residence of a wealthy local élite composed of merchants,obrajerosand landowners.
Nitrates, Chilean Entrepreneurs and the Origins of the War of the Pacific
Authors: Ortega Luis
Published: February 2009

The Chilean victory in the war against Perú and Bolivia between 1879 and 1884 demonstrated that the country's institutions had reached a high level of consolidation and maturity. The normal renewal of the legislative bodies and the presidential election of 1881, along with the uninterrupted functioning of these institutions throughout the conflict was proof of this, as was the continuation, without respite, of the customary practice of political confrontation between government and opposition. From every point of view, the national mobilization in Chile occasioned by the war made apparent social cohesion and a deep-rooted sense of nationality.
Naval Affairs in Chilean Politics, 1910–1932
Authors: Somervell Philip
Published: February 2009

The years 1910 to 1932 represent a key period for the study of military politics in a country which has prided itself on its armed forces for their professional, constitutional and non-interventionist tradition. Existing studies of the subject, while providing much detail on the background, development and outcome of the 1924 military intervention which is the central landmark of the period, have concentrated predominantly on army affairs and events in the capital, taking the metropolitan view. The substance and contention of this article is that the navy, and events outside the capital, exerted a significant influence on developments. The contention calls for an examination of the anatomy of the navy, the evolution of its influence, and the sources of conflict which it harboured.
Geopolitical Themes in the Writings of General Carlos de Meira Mattos of Brazil
Authors: Kelly Philip L.
Published: February 2009

Interest in geopolitics in England, the United States, and many other countries became dormant following World War II in reaction to the expansionisticgeopolitikof Hitlerian strategists. Its re-awakening is only recently apparent. However, this approach has maintained its influence and vitality in South America's Southern Cone, particularly in Argentina, Chile and Brazil, where military governments predominate, the United States is more distant, and particular national problems encourage traditional geopolitical solutions. Among these Latin American countries, Brazil's geopolitics is the most developed and extensive.
The Cuban Exiles: An Analytical Sketch
Authors: Bender Lynn Darrell
Published: February 2009

Without question, Cuba's most successful ‘export’ from the very beginning of the Castro period has not been revolution, but the physical removal of its domestic enemies. For whatever reason individual Cubans came to reject the new order, the decision to part physically from their homeland was made by enough people to develop into what is probably the greatest mass migration in the history of the Western Hemisphere. Latest estimates provided by the Department of State indicate that approximately 560,000 persons have left Cuba since 1959 to settle in other countries—all but 50,000 in the continental United States or Puerto Rico
Latin-American Development: The Politics of the Economics
Authors: Finch M. H. J.
Published: February 2009

A reviewer confronted with fourteen new books on the Latin-American economy inevitably seeks a common theme on which to hang his remarks, in the hope that this will make sense of his labours. Let it be confessed immediately that diligent search has failed to reveal any such unity in these volumes. Indeed, on the safe assumption that they represent a random selection from the rapidly growing literature on the subject, they might almost be taken as evidence of a diversity of approach. An alternative strategy, therefore, is to argue the existence of central doctrines in the literature on Latin- American development in the last twenty-five years, and to relate to them the literature under review.
Mercantile Credit and Financing in Venezuela, 1830–1870
Authors: Berglund Susan
Published: February 2009

The activities of the mercantile houses operating in the import–export trade are of primary importance in tracing and analyzing the nature of economic growth in nineteenth-century Latin America. As a necessary corollary to their trade activities, many houses were also involved in shipping and served as conduits for financial transactions of all types, collecting, receiving and remitting funds as well as making local investments, advances and loans. Mercantile houses thus served as the commercial– financial bridgehead between the new republics and the North Atlantic world. Naturally, not all mercantile houses participated in these activities to the same degree, and a distinction should be noted between agents for houses and partners.
New Towns in Eighteenth Century Northwest Agrentina
Authors: Robinson David J. , Thomas Teresa
Published: February 2009

One of the most striking features of the study of colonial urbanism and urbanization in Spanish America is the extent to which emphasis has been placed upon the sixteenth-century phase of urban foundations. In many recent works authors have presented details of the formal and functional characteristics of these primary foundations, as well as of the several interrelated processes of Indian resettlement, population change, and the spread of European culture. Though it has been estimated that more than 300 towns were founded in Spanish America between 1492 and 1600, relatively little attention has yet been paid to the changing spatial system of urban centres during the 300 years or more of colonial rule.
Before the Gold Fleets: Trade and Relations between Chile and Australia, 1830–1848
Authors: Bader Thomas M.
Published: February 2009

Even at first glance, one can see remarkable similarities in the topography, geography and patterns of land use of the west coast republics of South America and of the states of Australia which stretch along that continent's eastern and southeastern shores. Not only are the latitudinal parameters comparable, but similarities in climate and patterns of agriculture abound. The resemblances are particularly defined as we consider the geographical extravagance of Chile and compare it alone to the eastern edge of Australia.
The United States at Rio, 1942: the Strains of Pan-Americanism
Authors: Francis Michael J.
Published: February 2009

The meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics in Rio de Janeiro in 1942 was both the end of the series of inter-American meetings called in order to formulate an ‘American attitude’ toward the events in Europe and also the formalization of the war-time co-operation which followed. But, at another level, it was a clash of the foreign policies of Brazil, Chile, Argentina and the United States which both typified and shaped inter- American relations well into the 1950s. This discussion, which is largely based on United States goveernment documents, examines the inter-meshings of these foreign policies at the Rio meeting and the immediate aftermath of that conference.
Elections and Civil Wars in Nineteenth-century Colombia: The 1875 Presidential Campaign
Authors: Posada-Carbó Eduardo
Published: February 2009

On 1 February 1875, a hopeful President Santiago Pérez took pride in informing Congress of the peace and prosperity brought about by a decade or so of Radical rule in Colombia. His optimism was soon disappointed. A week later, he quelled a mutiny only by replacing both his Minister of War and the Army Commander-in-Chief. At the end of the month, the State of Magdalena was showing serious signs of political turmoil, while the recently sacked Minister of War, General Ramón Santodomingo Vila, was in the port of Barranquilla plotting against the government of the Union. By August, the States of Bolívar and Panamá had both officially declared war against Pérez's administration; rumours reached Bogotá which accused ‘Santo Domingo Vila of conspiracy to be President of the Republic of Costa Firme’. Customs-houses in the Caribbean ports were held by rebel forces for almost four months, and rebel steamers on the Magdalena river blocked the country's main artery of trade. Bloody confrontations completed the picture of another civil war, leaving behind an indefinite number of casualties and a Treasury in disarray. When President Pérez again faced Congress to give his annual message in 1876, he had to acknowledge his previous misjudgement.
Velasco Ibarra and ‘La Revolución Gloriosa’: The Social Production of a Populist Leader in Ecuador in the 1940s
Authors: De La Torre Carlos
Published: February 2009

This article is a study of the emergence of a populist leader. By combining an analysis of the social creation of the populist leader José María Velasco Ibarra in ‘La Revolución Gloriosa’ (or the May Revolution), with a study of his discourse, this paper explains why Velasco Ibarra became the central political figure in Ecuador in the mid-1940s.
Bureaucracy and Disaster: Mexico City and the Flood of 1629
Authors: Hoberman Louisa
Published: February 2009

The foundation of cities and the articulation of urban networks are a persistent theme in the history of colonial Spanish America. As administrative-social service centers and as foci of trade and, sometimes, manufacturing, cities were the meeting ground of the policies of the metropolis and the concerns of its subjects, the local creoles, castas, and Indians. This mediating position has influenced the kinds of questions asked about cities by Latin American urban historians. Those who, with this author, believe that the city's administrative function was paramount, consider the following questions most useful in determining the role of urban centers within the Spanish empire: was city government merely the agent of the Crown, was it the spokesman of a local oligarchy, or did it permit some degree of popular participation? Was the operation of municipal government characterized by co-operation or by conflict? What was the relative importance of formal institutions created by the Crown, such as the cabildo and the real acuerdo, and informal institutions, such as the family and the client system, in the conduct of city business?
Sectoral Policy Preferences of the Peruvian Government, 1946–1968
Authors: Frankman Myron J.
Published: February 2009

The economic policies that have been implemented in Peru since 1968 by the military government have been the object of considerable attention. By contrast, evaluation of Peruvian economic policy in the preceding two decades has received rather limited attention. It is our objective in this article to put into perspective the export bias of important elements of Peruvian economic policy in the period following World War II and to outline some of the consequences of that bias.
Brazil: Authoritarianism and Class Control
Authors: Flynn Peter
Published: February 2009

One of the most striking features of recent writing on comparative politics, especially the debate on underdevelopment, is the contribution made by Latin American theorists. Living in societies so strongly characterized by a culture of dependency, they have energetically developed and refined the theory of dependency. Directly experiencing the impact of imperialism and imperialism, they have carefully scrutinized and reassessed theories of imperialist control, and have explored the mechanisms of class interest, seeking to understand how such interests are maintained and expressed through the state apparatus, in policy making, the role of the bureaucracy, the armed forces, in cultural control and in the whole fabric of internal and external power relations.
The Rule of Agustín de Iturbide: A Reappraisal
Authors: Anna Timothy E.
Published: February 2009

After a struggle of eleven years, and the loss, according to the conservative estimate of Carlos María de Bustamante, of 2000,0000 lives, Mexico awoke in September 1821 an independent nation. For months before the culmination of independence there was no doubt who would rule the nation – that is, who was the de facto chief of state, at least for the moment. Agustin de Iturbide, author of the Plan of Iguala, conceiver of the idea of the Three Guarantees that united all factions in favor of independence, chief of the Army of the Three Guarantees, signatory on Mexico's part of the Treaties of Cordoba that granted independence de jure (in Mexico's view), was the undisputed leader. Incorruptible, invincible, wise, Christian, the consummate politician, the salvation of the Church, the Protector of Spaniards in Mexico, the Hero of Iguala, the Liberator, the Father of the Nation, Iturbide had broken the yoke of the Lion of Castile. Mexicans, of all political persuasions, rallied around the demigod in a euphoria of rejoicing and hope that has no equal in the history of the country.
Political Conflict and Land Tenure in the Mexican Isthmus of Tehuantepec
Authors: Binford Leigh
Published: February 2009

From March 1981, when a radical local administration took office, the municipality of Juchitán, Oaxaca, located in the Southern Isthmus of Tehuantepec, has been in the national (and more recently the international) spotlight. The newly elected officials were from the COCEI, the Coalición de Obreros, Campesinos y Estudiantes del Istmo (Coalition of Workers, Peasants and Students of the Isthmus), a radical local political group which had, for tactical reasons, formed an electoral alliance with the Mexican Communist Party (since August 1981 the leading component of the PSUM or Unified Socialist Party of Mexico, organized to contest the 5982 presidential election). Land reform was one of the major issues — along with municipal corruption and the paucity of educational, health and other services — mobilized substantial proportions of a largely agricultural-based population to support the COCEI against the PRI, the Revolutionary Institutional Party which has ruled Mexico without serious challenge since 1929.
Wool Trade and Commercial Networks in Buenos Aires, 1840s to 1880s
Authors: Sabato Hilda
Published: February 2009

Between the 1850s and 1880s, Argentina became one of the chief suppliers of wool to the expanding world markets. Most of this wool was grown in the fertile sheep-runs of the richest province in the country, and was sent to Europe through its capital city and port, Buenos Aires.

After the colonial experience of being mainly an entrepôt in the legal and contraband trade between the Viceroyalty of the River Plate and the rest of the world, Buenos Aires had seen its commercial opportunities flourish after Independence, and had found in its rural hinterland the staples to export, hides and salted beef. A mercantile class, at the rise of the century more interested in commercial pursuits than in productive activities related to the rural areas, had, nevertheless, sought in the late colonial era the benefits of cattle-raising, which provided the new staples, first to complement and later to replace the chief export of colonial Buenos Aires, bullion from Potosí.
The Impact of Pre-1943 Labor Union Traditions on Peronism
Authors: Horowitz Joel
Published: February 2009

Although in recent years there has been an increasing quantity of suggestive and important investigations of Peronism, little attention has been paid to the continuity between the pre-1943 and the Peronist labor movement.1This continuity has been neglected despite general recognition that there were important labor leaders from the earlier labor movement who provided key initial support to Peonism and that the pre-1943 labor movement was one of Latin America's strongest.
Ships in the Night: The CIA, the White House and the Bay of Pigs
Authors: Gleijeses Piero
Published: February 2009

A comprehensive study of the available documents about the Bay of Pigs, including many that have been declassified within the last eighteen months, and extensive interviews with the protagonists in the CIA, the White House and the State Department lead me to conclude that the disastrous operation was launched not simply because Kennedy was poorly served by his young staff and was the captive of his campaign rhetoric, nor simply because of the hubris of the CIA. Rather, the Bay of Pigs was approved because the CIA and the White House assumed they were speaking the same language when, in fact, they were speaking in utterly different tongues.
Land, Politics and Benevolent Shamanism: The Enxet Indians in a Democratic Paraguay
Authors: Kidd Stephen W.
Published: February 2009

Only in the last century has the territory of the Enxet Indians of Paraguay been colonised by non-Indians, led initially by Anglican missionaries. This article examines the Enxet in the contemporary political context of Paraguay giving special attention to their claim for 160,000 hectares of their traditional territory. It also considers the development of a mythically expressed autochthonous political discourse and the relationship of the Indians to professional politicians. Despite significant legal backing, the Enxet land claims are strongly opposed by powerful landowners and their best chance for success will be to gain international support.
Prohibition in Puerto Rico,1917–1933
Authors: Clark Truman R.
Published: February 2009

With the passage of the Jones Act (1917), the United States expanded Puerto Rican autonomy, made Puerto Ricans citizens of the USA, and gave the island prohibition of alcohol. The Puerto Rican people overwhelmingly ratified prohibition in a referendum in July 1917. Prohibition won because it was emotionally linked to patriotism and morality. Prohibition enforcement was almost impossible, compounded by the colonial status of the island. It was that status which brought an immediate end to prohibition in Puerto Rico with the demise of prohibition in the United States in 1933.
Honduras: The Politics of Exception and Military Reformism (1972—1978)
Authors: Sieder Rachel
Published: February 2009

The specificities of contemporary Honduran politics are explored by examining both national historical development and the cooption of popular protest by military reformism in the 1970s. The dynamics underpinning demobilisation of the popular movement after 1976 are explained with reference to both the agrarian reform implemented by the military and certain features of local political culture, such as patronage and clientelism, which – it is argued – were utilised selectively to coopt a sector of the organised labour movement. Divisions within the popular movement, in part a product of traditions of statelabour relations, were also significant in weakening the popular challenge.
Can Social Sector Reform Make Adjustment Sustainable and Equitable? Lessons from Chile and Venezuela-p
Authors: Angell Alan , Graham Carol
Published: February 2009

Adjustment in Latin America has largely been analysed in terms of macroeconomic policy. However, for reforms to be sustainable in the long term, there needs to be accompanying change in the social sectors. Such reform is difficult and costly. It is necessary, however, not simply to sustain the economic reforms, but also for an effective long-term strategy of poverty alleviation and for the consolidation of democracy. There are lessons to be learnt from successful and unsuccessful social sector reform.
The Arrival of the Electric Streetcar and the Conflict over Progress in Early Twentieth-Century Montevideo
Authors: Rosenthal Anton
Published: February 2009

The inauguration of electric streetcar service by two foreign-owned companies in Montevideo in 1906 set off an intense debate between the city's elite and its anarchist workers over the nature of progress. The streetcar became a contested symbol of modernity as the elite attempted to dictate the terms of a new urban order. Anarchists countered with an alternative vision of progress that emphasised social equality, education and liberty, and they competed for the sympathy of the middle class which grew increasingly ambivalent towards the streetcar. Trolley workers resisted a new system of discipline at the workplace and eventually led the city's first general strike, with broad public support.
Streetcars and Politics in Rio de Janeiro: Private Enterprise versus Municipal Government in the Provision of Mass Transit, 1903–1920
Authors: Boone Christopher G.
Published: February 2009

This paper examines the relationship of the Rio de Janeiro Tramway, Light and Power Company and the municipal council in the provision of streetcar services in Rio de Janeiro, 1903–1920. Using archival materials collected in Brazil and Canada, it demonstrates that the utilities company lost the contest for control of Rio de Janeiro's mass transit system to the municipal authorities. Although it had the advantages of capital, technology and skill, this Canadian enterprise did not dictate its demands to an acquiescent municipal council. Rather, the municipal council and prefecture managed to extract an expensive streetcar system from the company to service its growing city.
Alfonso López Pumarejo and Liberal Radicalism in 1930s Colombia
Authors: Stoller Richard
Published: February 2009

This article locates the first regime of Alfonso López Pumarejo (the Revolutión en marcha, 1934–8) within the social dynamics of Colombia's polarised party system, rather than the developmentalist and class dynamics that are frequently invoked. López's economic and political thought is shown to be far closer to the partisan and antistatist traditions of Colombian liberalism than is often assumed, and his rise to power is depicted as a victory of political strategy rather than class alliances. After surveying the role of the Acción Liberal group of intellectuals in the radicalisation of Liberal discourse, culminating in the constitutional reform of 1936, the article offers hypotheses about the transitory nature of López-era Liberal radicalism.
The Armed Branch of the State: Civil–Military Relations in Mexico
Authors: Serrano Mónica
Published: February 2009

This article explores the relationship between civil-military relations and political change. Transitions to democracy in Latin America have led scholars to focus attention on the legacy of military rule and those efforts aimed at securing democratic control of the military. The article examines the foundations of civilian supremacy in Mexico, established within the context of a hegemonic party system. Changes brought about in the civil-military balance as a result of shifts in the division of labour between civilians and soldiers, as well as the impact of political liberalisation, are also analysed. Drawing on the experience of other transitions to democracy, the article discusses some of the issues raised by the dismantling of hegemonic rule for civil-military relations in Mexico.
The Argentine Right and the Jews, 1919–1933
Authors: Deutsch Sandra McGee
Published: February 2009

InPrisoner Without A Name, Cell Without A Number, Jacobo Timerman exposed the anti-Jewish side of the official war against ‘subversion’ in Argentina during the late 1970s. His dramatic testimony is only the latest entry in the lengthy history of twentieth-century Argentine anti-Semitism. Researchers and observers have commonly identified anti-Semitism in that country with rightist factions within the upper strata, including members of such important élites as the military, clergy, and intelligentsia. While only a small minority of the Argentine populace fits into this category, the anti-Semitic right's visibility and fervor have inspired widespread concern and scholarly interest.
The Making of Human Rights Policy in Argentina: the Impact of Ideas and Interests on a Legal Conflict
Authors: Osiel Mark
Published: February 2009

The walls of downtown Buenos Aires displayed a new and haunting image in the weeks before the inauguration of President Raúl Alfonsín in December, 1983: black, outlined silhouettes of human beings, each accompanied by a name. The ghost-like figures represented those who had ‘disappeared’ in the military's proclaimed ‘war against subversion’. They testified silently but eloquently to the memory of the victims of that experience in the thoughts of many Argentines, and foreshadowed what was to become one of the most vexing political problems for the new civilian government. Among the many difficulties bequeathed to President Alfonsín by the military juntas who ruled Argentina for the eight preceding years, first among these in ethical exigency was the question of what to do concerninglos desaparecidos.
Bringing the Countryside Back In: A Case Study of Military Intervention as State Building in the Brazilian Old Republic
Authors: Diacon Todd
Published: February 2009

Brazil's Contestado Rebellion (1912–1916) pitted 20,000 millenarian rebels against two-thirds of the Brazilian army. A major event in the consolidation of the Brazilian Republic, it serves as an important case study of the dynamics of central state intervention in the Brazilian hinterland. Local notables took advantage of a new, unprecedented central state presence to press for advantages in their local struggles. At the same time, officer experiences during the rebellion led them to question the institutional arrangements that they felt produced the conflict. The result was a new officer push for a nationalist, central state intervention during the Republic.
Explaining Bureaucratic Independence in Brazil: The Experience of the National Economic Development Bank
Authors: Willis Eliza J.
Published: February 2009

This article assesses competing explanations of the independence from political and economic elites achieved by Brazil's Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econömico (BNDE) during the 1950s. Whereas others have stressed the actions taken by Presidents Getúlio Vargas and Juscelino Kubitschek, I attribute the Bank's remarkable independence to a cadre of innovative civil servants. In this account, independence is measured by control over personnel recruitment, loan allocation, and generation of funds. The considerable control BNDE bureaucrats exercised over personnel recruitment and loan allocation countered their limited control over funding, permitting the Bank to become an independent and effective development institution.
The Influence of Latin American Governments on the Shaping of United States Foreign Policy: The Case of U.S.–Argentine Relations, 1943–1948
Authors: Vannucci Albert P.
Published: February 2009

The subject of United States foreign policy towards Argentina in the years during and immediately after World War II continues to hold the attention of scholars. Their interest goes beyond the intrinsic importance which Argentina had then, or now. Rather, interest is fixed because this case provides the first post-War illustration of several serious problems which United States foreign policy in the hemisphere has demonstrated many times since, and currently in its relations with Nicaragua.
Errata
Authors: Brass Tom
Published: February 2009

Journal of Latin American Studies, vol. 18, no. 1 (1986), pp. 181—194
Coerced or Voluntary? TheRepartimientoand Market Participation of Peasants in Late Colonial Oaxaca
Authors: Baskes Jeremy
Published: February 2009

This article challenges the traditional depiction of the late colonialrepartimiento de comercioas a system of forced production and consumption. Employing a micro-economic analysis of therepartimiento'soperation in Oaxaca, it argues that peasant participation in thealcaldes mayores' repartimientoswas voluntary, not coerced, and that therepartimientoshould be understood instead as a system of consumer and producer credit designed to operate under colonial conditions of high risk.Repartimientocredit was expensive, but it permitted peasants to participate more extensively in markets as consumers and producers. ‘Indians are capable of requesting the cargo of a flotilla, and [so] it is a vulgarity and a misunderstanding of the repartimiento to say that they are forced.’
The Formation of Modern Brazilian Banking, 1906–1930: Opportunities and Constraints Presented by the Public and Private Sectors
Authors: Triner Gail D.
Published: February 2009

This article examines the Brazilian banking system from 1906 to 1930, and analyses two potential constraints to dynamic banking: government economic policy and concepts of ownership, as expressed through property rights. It finds that the banking system was quite dynamic in supporting economic change. The problems of, and constraints to, banking development are typically declared, or assumed, to result from the exigencies of government monetary policy. The results of monetary policy for private-sector development emerge as significantly less than existing historiography would suggest. However, concepts and protection of property rights constrained the ability of banks to expand their activities.
1910 Mexico City: Space and Nation in the City of theCentenario
Authors: Trillo Mauricio Tenorio
Published: February 2009

The article focuses on the 1910 centennial celebration of Mexico's war of independence in Mexico City in order to examine the notions of modernity, cosmopolitanism and nationalism that were held by the Porfirian elite. The article first maps the celebration and thus identifies an ideal city – of comfort, modernity, style, and patriotism – that the Porfirian elite created from the 1880s to the 1910s within Mexico City. Second, it takes tours around the ideal city in order to examine how ideal views of social order, material and cultural progress, nation-building and cosmopolitanism acquired spatial and graphic expressions in the city.
Mill Occupations and Soviets: The Mobilisation of Sugar Workers in Cuba 1917–1933
Authors: Carr Barry
Published: February 2009

In August, September and October 1933 Cuban sugar workers seized several dozen mills and estates and, in a number of cases, inaugurated soviets. This major worker uprising coincided with the collapse of the regime of Gerardo Machado and the early stages of the reformist administration of Grau San Martín. An examination of the roots of labour organisation among sugar workers and of the dynamic of the insurgency reveals the strengths and the limitations of the role played by the Cuban Communist Party. The collapse of the institutional and coercive structures of the state apparatus greatly facilitated the worker actions.
Crown Colony as Banana Republic: The United Fruit Company in British Honduras, 1900–1920
Authors: Moberg Mark
Published: February 2009

In much historiography of the colonial Caribbean, British administrators are portrayed as mediators between domestic elites, foreign capital, and the working class. Such scholarship converges with popular belief in Belize, whose institutions are seen as a legacy of ‘impartial’ British rule. This article examines the relationship between the United Fruit Company and the colonial government of British Honduras. Contrary to claims of administrative impartiality, colonial officials facilitated the company's monopoly over the banana industry and acted as company advocates before the Colonial Office, actions that ultimately undermined the colony's independent banana producers.
Horse Thieves to Rebels to Dogs: Political Gang Violence and the State in the Western Segovias, Nicaragua, in the Time of Sandino, 1926–1934
Authors: Schroeder Michael J.
Published: February 2009

This study of organised political violence in north-central Nicaragua from 1926 to 1934 focuses on the infamous Conservative gang leader Anastacio Hernández and on Sandino's rebels. The contexts of a weak central state and local-regionalcaudillismoare outlined. It is shown that after the 1926–27 civil war. Hernández and others produced ritualised spectacular violence in the service of their Chamorristacaudillopatrons. The language, practices, and characteristics of organised violence are examined. It is argued that Sandino's rebels appropriated these tools of political struggle, and that changes and continuities in the organisation of violence in Nicaraguan history merit greater attention.
The Politics of Constitution-making: Constitutions and Democracy in Venezuela
Authors: Kornblith Miriam
Published: February 2009

Constitutional issues are once again being considered from sociological and political perspectives, after many years of strictly juridical approaches. This renewed interest stems from both theoretical and practical concerns, raised by the multiplication of liberalisation and democratisation processes around the globe, as well as from the need to update and deepen the democratic content of stable democracies.
Rural Families and Income from Migration: Honduran Households in the World Economy
Authors: Stonich Susan C.
Published: February 2009

Although peasants have always been linked to larger economic systems, the expansion of capitalist agriculture and the augmented incidence of migration throughout the Third World in recent decades have transformed the peasantry and made it reliant on wage work in labour markets tied to the world economy as never before. In Latin America this transformation has taken many forms, but the overwhelming direction has been towards changing subsistence farmers into wage labourers. The overall effect has been that few rural households persist independent of wage labour, while the majority combine income from resource-poor landholdings with wage earnings. The dependence on off-farm income is especially significant among smallholder farm families who derive the majority of household income from off-farm sources.
Spain and the Spanish American Wars of Independence: TheComisión de Reemplazos, 1811–1820
Authors: Costeloe Michael P.
Published: February 2009

A prominent feature of Spain's response to the rebellions of its Latin American colonies, both during the constitutional régime of 1810–1814 and the absolutist system of Ferdinand VII from 1814–1820, was wide-spread bureaucratic confusion. When José García de Léon y Pizarro became Secretary of State in 1816, he found the whole question of the pacification of America in a deplorable state which had reached ‘un punto de exasperación increíble’1In a Council of State session of December 1816, the Navy Minister, José Vázquez de Figueroa, angrily denounced the red tape and inefficient administrative system in which decisions were lost in ‘una verdadera lucha de papeles’.2
On Expectations - Perspectives on the Crisis of 1889 in Brazil
Authors: Colson Frank
Published: February 2009

The crisis of 1889 has long been seen as a turning point in Brazilian history. Because historians have often examined the Second Empire to defend or attack its successor, they have neglected certain aspects of the crisis. Their explanations have stressed that leaders of the minuscule and divided Republican Party took advantage of long standing grievances between senior officers and civilian politicians when they urged an ailing general to depose the monarchy on the 15th of November. They have, therefore, emphasized the role of the army in creating the conditions for a coup d'etat, and its preeminence in the Republic until 1889. In doing so, they have underestimated the powerful economic forces which underpinned the Imperial government. They have also overestimated those which supported the republican leaders of São Paulo, the self-confessed beneficiaries of the coup. Since they have also understated the fluidity of political allegiances in this period, its history has become too narrow and too deterministic, with the army depicted as the engine of ‘a change from Ancien Régime to a bourgeois society’.