Transcript Interest Groups - Personal.psu.edu

LATIN AmERICAn
POLITICS : Interest
GROUPS
Emergence and
Expansion
Political Development and the
Appearance of Interest Groups
 Structural differentiation
 Cultural secularization
 Sub-system autonomy
Requisites for Becoming a “PLAYER”
• Demonstrate that you have power
• Will respect the rights of already existent
players
• Leads to a “living museum” approach since
traditional groups not destroyed
• Unwillingness to be co-opted leads to being
repressed
Repression of Would-be “PLAYERS”
• Repression usually successful – for a time
• Repressed groups often resurface in a
revolutionary mode
– Peasants in Cuba
– Industrial workers in Peron’s Argentina
– Urban poor in Chavez’s Venezuela
Ruling Triumvirate: Nineteenth Century
(MILITARY)
• Tradition of caudillismo
• General themes
– Assorted armies become
active in politics
– National militaries often
play a “moderating” role
• Struggle for
professionalism
• “New” professionalism
Ruling Triumvirate: Colonial Period
(ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH)
• Feudal. Catholicism
• Amerindians Conversion
to Protectionism
– Protection of the
Amerindians
– Mixing of Catholic and
Native traditions
• Silence on Africans and
slavery
• Anti-clerical revolutions
of post-independence
period
Ruling Triumvirate: Nineteenth Century
(ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH II)
• Nation state
monopolizes
record keeping
and social
services
• Late in the
century: Priests
return as
teachers of the
ruling national
elite
• Following Independence:
Convents and Monasteries
abandoned or destroyed
Ruling Triumvirate: Nineteenth Century
(Large Land Owners)
• Control over large land owners during the
colonial period
– Crown
– Church largest landowner
• Land Owning elite and the immediate post
independence period
– Raiding of communal properties held by
Amerindians
– Nationalization of ecclesiastical properties
(Landed Estates: Argentina)
Ruling Triumvirate: Late Nineteenth
Century (Large Land Owners)
Investment from the North Atlantic funds the
emergence of commercial plantation
agriculture
– Wheat and cattle in Argentina
– Coffee in Brazil
– Mining in Mexico
– Bananas in Central America
• Consolidation of commercial agriculture locks
in place an exploited peasant class
Expansion of the Triumvirate:
Entrepreneurs
•
•
•
•
Initially merchants to market agricultural produce
Merchants usually related by blood to rural elite
Industrialists first appear in the Southern Cone
Industry also emerges in Sao Paulo (Brazil)
– Strong immigrant presence
– Conflict marks the relationship between merchants
industrialists
Expansion of the Triumvirate: Middle
Sectors & Professionals
• Initially confined to capital cities
• Provided services for the elite
• Professional middle sectors tied to
modernization and industrialization
– Scottish engineers
– Immigrants in Brazil and the Southern cone
• Minimal political influence
Expansion of the Triumvirate: Peasants
• Elite apprehension leads to
violence and annihilation of
autonomous peasants:
Brazil (Os Sertoes)
• Struggle between elites
opens the way for first great
peasant revolt: Mexico
• Political Parties (led by
middle class) organize the
peasants
– Peru – APRA
– Guatemala – Juan Jose
Arevalo
– Venezuela – Democratic
Action
Expansion of the Triumvirate: Industrial
Workers
• Initially small in numbers and lacking in
influence
• Numbers swell with the growth of the cities
• Juan Peron & Evita: first use of urban poor in
national power equation
• Peru: Manuel Odrilla & authoritarian populism
Expansion of the Triumvirate: Urban Poor
• City-ward Migration
• Appearance of the
urban poor in national
politics
– Venezuela: Hugo Chavez
and the Bolivarian
Revolution
– Mexico: Lopez Obredor
• Shantytowns of Caracas
Mobilization of Women
• Eva Peron organizes
women as a political
group (1940’s)
• Right to vote
widespread following
World War II
Capability of Liberal Democratic
Political Regimes in Latin American to
process demands from the newly
diverse constellation of interest
groups
may be inadequate