Synopses & Reviews
Power in Transition examines the history of the economic elites who engineered Guatemala's return to constitutional rule in June, 1993. Dosal traces the changes in the country's elites from the period of the early industrial prioneers to today's neoliberal reformers.
The inauguration of President Ramiro de Leon Carpio in June, 1993, forms part of a historical process whereby the Guatemalan military is transferring the regins of government to the oligarchy. During the military dictatorships of the last forty years, the leadership of the oligarchy passed from the coffee barons to a relatively progressive group of industrialists, financiers, and a new breed of agro-exporters.
Power in Transition makes contemporary political dynamics understandable by examining the origins and evolution of today's modernizing oligarchy. Dosal traces the emergence of the industrialists during the Liberal era (1871-1944), explains their opposition to the reforms of the revolutionary era (1944-1954), and analyzes their political and economic development under military rule (1954-1985). When the military initiated the return to civilian rule in the 1980s, the industrialists emerged as the dominant faction of the oligarchy. This study will be of great interest to scholars and other researchers of Central American political and economic development.
Synopsis
A history of the economic elites who engineered Guatemala's return to constitutional rule in June, 1993.
Synopsis
Power in Transition examines the history of the economic elites who engineered Guatemala's return to constitutional rule in June, 1993. Dosal traces the changes in the country's elites from the period of the early industrial prioneers to today's neoliberal reformers.
About the Author
PAUL J. DOSAL is Associate Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts.
Table of Contents
The Guatemalan Oligarchy
Foundations of the Oligarchy, 1871-1898
Dictators and Oligarches, 1898-1930
Politicization of the Industrialists, 1931-1944
Revolution and Reaction, 1944-1954
Modernization and Expansion, 1954-1970
Militarization and Alienation, 1970-1983
Democratization, 1983-1990
The Serranazo and After