Political Movements and Violence in Central America

Description

This book offers an in-depth analysis of the confrontation between popular movements and repressive regimes in Central America during the three decades beginning in 1960, particularly in El Salvador and Guatemala. Examining both urban and rural groups as well as both nonviolent social movements and revolutionary movements, this study has two primary theoretical objectives. First, to clarify the impact of state violence on contentious political movements. Under what conditions will escalating repression provoke challengers to even greater activity (perhaps even the use of violence themselves) and under what conditions will it intimidate them back into passivity? Second, to defend the utility of the political process model for studying contentious movements, indeed, finding in this model the key to resolving the repression-protest paradox. The study is based on the most thorough set of events data on contentious political activities collected from Latin American countries.

Charles D. Brockett received his Ph. D. in Political Science from the University of North Carolina in 1974. He is the author of Land, Power, and Poverty: Agrarian Transformation and Political Conflict in Central America, which was selected as a Choice 'Outstanding Academic Book' of 1988. He is also the author of numerous articles published in scholarly journals and edited volumes, including the American Political Science Review and Latin American Research Review. In recognition of his work, he has received Fulbright awards for participation in the South America Today program in 1995 and for lecturing/research in Guatemala in 2000, the John B. Stephenson Fellowship from the Appalachian College Association, and a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend.

'Charles Brockett, a recognised and respected commentator on Central American affairs, here presents an in-depth analysis of the interactions of the region's popular movements with repressive regimes from the 1960s to the 1980s.' British Bulletin of Publications