Political Movements and Violence in Central America (Cambridge Studies in Contentious Politics)

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. Cover......Page 1 Half-title......Page 3 Title......Page 7 Copyright......Page 8 Contents......Page 9 Figures, Tables, and Maps......Page 11 Abbreviations and Acronyms......Page 15 Acknowledgments......Page 21 1 Introduction......Page 25 Rural Contention and Repression in Guatemala......Page 27 Urban Contention and Repression in El Salvador......Page 32 Contentious Movements and Political Violence......Page 35 The Configuration of Political Opportunities......Page 38 Why We Do What We Do......Page 45 Overview of the Book......Page 54 Part One: From Grievances to Contentious Movements......Page 55 Part Two: Opportunity, Contention, and Repression......Page 56 Part 1 From Grievances to Contentious Movements......Page 59 2 The Social Construction of Grievances......Page 61 The Problem of Determining Who Does What and Why......Page 64 Socioeconomic Grievances......Page 67 Long-standing Deprivation......Page 70 New Threats to Economic Security......Page 71 Sociopolitical Grievances......Page 79 Lack of State Responsiveness......Page 80 Frustrated Rising Expectations......Page 81 Accidents......Page 83 The Expressive Dimension......Page 85 The Central American Comparison......Page 87 Conclusion......Page 89 3 The Emergence of Urban Contentious Movements......Page 93 Contentious University Students......Page 97 Teachers and Political Contention......Page 102 Organizing Labor in El Salvador......Page 104 Salvadoran Revolutionary Movements......Page 107 Contentious Mass Organizations......Page 111 Conclusion......Page 118 4 The Emergence of Urban Contentious Movements......Page 121 Revolutionary Organizations I: The 1960s......Page 123 Guatemalan Students and Political Contention......Page 125 Recreating the Guatemalan Labor Movement......Page 131 FASGUA and the Reemergence of the Labor Movement......Page 132 The CNT and Increasing Labor Contentiousness......Page 134 Revolutionaries and the Labor Movement......Page 136 The Laugerud Political Opening......Page 137 CNUS and the Peak of Labor Mobilization......Page 138 Persistence of the PGT and FAR......Page 141 The Ejército Guerrillero de los Pobres......Page 143 The Organizacíon del Pueblo in Armas......Page 146 The Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca......Page 147 Students......Page 148 Revolutionary Organizations......Page 149 Conclusion......Page 152 5 Contentious Peasants and the Problem of Consciousness Raising......Page 154 Contentious Peasants in Guatemala......Page 156 Contentious Peasants in El Salvador......Page 164 Consciousness-Raising and the Ideology of the Oppressed......Page 172 The Central American Comparison......Page 186 Conclusion......Page 188 Part 2 Opportunity, Contention, and Repression......Page 191 6 Cycles of Contention......Page 193 Cycles of Contention in Guatemala......Page 195 Data and Sources......Page 196 Measuring Nonviolent Contentious Activities......Page 198 Measuring Illegal and Violent Contentious Activities......Page 205 Data and Sources......Page 208 Measuring Nonviolent Contentious Activities......Page 210 Measuring Illegal and Violent Activities......Page 213 Concerning Analytic Techniques......Page 215 Conclusion......Page 217 The Configuration of Political Opportunities......Page 218 Political Access......Page 219 Elite Alignments......Page 220 Repression......Page 222 Political Opportunities and Guatemalan Contentious Movements......Page 223 1. Closed opportunities; social movements demobilized, 1954......Page 225 2. Slow opening of opportunities; slow return of movement activity, 1955 through 1958......Page 226 3. Relatively open; increasing activity, 1959 to 10/1961......Page 228 4. Restricting opportunity; rapid movement escalation, 11/1961 to 5/1962......Page 229 6. Closed opportunities; demobilized, 4/1963 through 1973......Page 230 7. Opening of opportunities; slow return of activity, 1974 to 2/1976......Page 234 8. Relatively open; rapid escalation, 3/1976 to 6/1978......Page 236 9. Restricting opportunities; continuing escalation, 7/1978 to 12/1978......Page 238 10. Closing opportunities; decreasing activity, 1979–1980......Page 239 11. Closed; demobilized, 1981 through 1984......Page 240 12. Slow opening of opportunities; slow return of activity, 1985 on......Page 243 Predicting Social Movement Activity......Page 244 Conclusion......Page 250 Appendix: Guatemalan Political Violence Data......Page 251 8 Changing Political Opportunities and Contentious Challengers......Page 254 The First Campaign: Late 1960s/Early 1970s......Page 255 The Second Campaign: Late 1970s/1980......Page 257 The Third Campaign: Mid-1980s/Early 1990s......Page 263 Predicting Social Movement Activity......Page 268 The Central American Comparison......Page 269 Elite Alignments and Political Access......Page 270 The Relative Capacity and Propensity for Repression......Page 276 Conclusion......Page 283 Appendix: Salvador Repression Data......Page 285 9 Contention and Repression......Page 289 The Protest-Repression Paradox......Page 290 Evidence from Guatemala......Page 295 Conclusion......Page 314 Precursor Movements......Page 316 The Cycle of the Late 1970s/Early 1980s......Page 318 The Cycle of the Mid to Late 1980s......Page 330 Contention, Repression and the Individual......Page 339 Conclusion......Page 346 11 Conclusion......Page 348 The Configuration of Political Opportunities......Page 349 Commitment......Page 351 References......Page 353 Index......Page 387 This Book Offers An Indepth Analysis Of The Confrontation Between Popular Movements And Repressive Regimes In Central America For The Three Decades Beginning In 1960, Particularly In El Salvador And Guatemala. It Examines Both Urban And Rural Groups As Well As Both Nonviolent Social Movements And Revolutionary Movements. It Studies The Impact Of State Violence On Contentious Political Movements As Well As Defends The Political Process Model For Studying Such Movements.

This analysis of the confrontation between popular movements and repressive regimes in Central America, particularly in El Salvador and Guatemala, examines urban and rural groups as well as nonviolent social movements and revolutionary movements over three decades from 1960 on. It studies the impact of state violence on contentious political movements and defends the political process model for studying such movements.

Charles Brockett 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