ISBN:
9780198036517
Language:
English
Pages:
1 online resource (347 pages)
Parallel Title:
Erscheint auch als
DDC:
303.6/09728
Keywords:
State-sponsored terrorism-Central America-History
;
Political violence-Central America-History
;
Central America-Politics and government
;
Electronic books
Abstract:
Public violence, a persistent feature of Latin American life since the collapse of Iberian rule in the 1820s, has been especially prominent in Central America. Robert H. Holden shows how public violence shaped the states that have governed Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, andNicaragua. Linking public violence and patrimonial political cultures, he shows how the early states improvised their authority by bargaining with armed bands or montoneras. Improvisation continued into the twentieth century as the bands were gradually superseded by semi-autonomous national armies,and as new agents of public violence emerged in the form of armed insurgencies and death squads. World War II, Holden argues, set into motion the globalization of public violence. Its most dramatic manifestation in Central America was the surge in U.S. military and police collaboration with thegovernments of the region, beginning with the Lend-Lease program of the 1940s and continuing through the Cold War. Although the scope of public violence had already been established by the people of the Central American countries, globalization intensified the violence and inhibited attempts toshrink its scope. Drawing on archival research in all five countries as well as in the United States, Holden elaborates the connections among the national, regional, and international dimensions of public violence. Armies Without Nations crosses the borders of Central American, Latin American, andNorth American history, providing a model for the study of global history and politics.
Abstract:
Intro -- Contents -- Introduction -- PART I: 1821-1939 -- 1 Historical Dimensions of Public Violence in Latin America -- 2 Binding Hatreds: Public Violence, State, and Nation in Central American History -- 3 Guatemala: Organizing for War -- 4 El Salvador: A Democracy of Violence -- 5 Honduras: Caudillos in Search of an Army -- 6 Nicaragua: A New Army Finds Its Caudillo -- 7 Costa Rica: Caudillos in Search of a State -- PART II: 1940-1960 -- 8 Transformations -- 9 Defining Collaboration: The United States and Central America -- 10 Guatemala: "Showcase of Latin America -- 11 El Salvador: Distrustful Collaborator -- 12 Honduras: Remaking an "Armed Rabble -- 13 Nicaragua: "Ready to Receive Order from Uncle Sam -- 14 Costa Rica: An Army Renamed -- 15 Conclusions -- Statistical Appendix -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z.
Note:
Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources
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