ABOUT THIS BOOK

Despite a shared colonial past, South American nations experienced different patterns of conflict in the nineteenth century. These differences led to the creation of a variety of states and regimes, from authoritarian military oligarchies to popular democracies. Using a rigorous logic of comparison, Fernando López-Alves explores the roots of state building in five countries and explains why the political systems of these early postindependent societies were prone to militarism, corporatism, or liberal democracy.
Breaking with the traditional economic analysis of South American development, López-Alves argues that civil-military relations lay at the core of state building. By comparing three countries in particular—Uruguay, Colombia, and Argentina—during an intense phase of state and regime formation, he shows how war and the collective action of the rural poor contributed to the construction of central armies, the rise of new social classes, and the emergence of civilian organizations. He also examines characteristics unique to each country’s war-formed culture and discusses how coalitions were built during this period. Examples from Paraguay and Venezuela and references to state formation in Europe, the United States, Asia, and the Middle East add to the complexity and richness of the study’s comparative analysis.
Drawing on a vast bibliography of both primary and secondary sources, López-Alves goes beyond providing insights into the particular development of Latin American countries and introduces a comprehensive theory of state formation applicable to other regions. This book will interest Latin Americanists, historians, political scientists, and sociologists studying state formation.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Fernando López-Alves is Director of the UC Santa Barbara Washington Center and Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

REVIEWS

“[An] exceptional book . . . . Highly recommended. . . .” - J. Rosenthal, Choice

“López-Alves has written an exhaustive comparison of democratic development in Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Paraguay during the nineteenth century. . . . What he shows, in a masterly but humble manner, is that the examined societies are different, whatever their similarities, and need to be studied as autochthonous. . . . The notes and references are well written and well edited, revealing further breadth and scope of scholarship. Further work on state formation and democracy from 1810 to 1900 in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Colombia, and Venezuela will be footnotes to López-Alves.” - Sheldon Avenius, Perspectives on Political Science

“This is an ambitious comparative work . . . . Commendable as a work of synthesis and as an industrious and creative comparative exercise . . . . [I]t is a valuable addition to the academic literature and an indispensable work for any research library, certain to provide debate-provoking material for graduate seminars in the social sciences. It offers useful points for comparative researchers interested in furthering our understanding of state-building in the Americas.” - Victor M. Uribe-Uran, The Americas

"This foray into the chaos of the nineteenth century is to be welcomed. . . . [T]eachers and students of nineteenth-century Latin American political history . . . will learn a lot from its theoretical rigour, its singularity of focus, and its original and revealing comparisons between a selection of Latin American states which are rarely compared." - Guy Thomson, The Americas

"López-Alves’s argument provides important insights into the relationship between party development and democratization in Latin America. . . . López-Alves’s work is a welcome contribution to the underdeveloped field of comparative historical sociology in Latin American studies. It will undoubtedly become a standard reference for anyone interested in political development and democracy in Latin America."
- Gabriel L. Negretto, The Journal of Latin American Studies

“An extraordinary contribution to the literature on state formation and the origins of democracy in Latin America. López-Alves’s argument is extremely provocative, persuasive, and intelligently grounded in important historiographical debates on nineteenth-century developments in these countries.”—Charles W. Bergquist, University of Washington

“Instead of wringing his hands about failures of nineteenth-century Latin American states to match European models or retreating into mysteries of their culture, Fernando López-Alves boldly places Latin American state formation in historical and comparative perspective. The result is a fresh, informed view of political change during a struggle-filled century.”—Charles Tilly, Columbia University

“[An] exceptional book . . . . Highly recommended. . . .”

-- J. Rosenthal Choice

“López-Alves has written an exhaustive comparison of democratic development in Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Paraguay during the nineteenth century. . . . What he shows, in a masterly but humble manner, is that the examined societies are different, whatever their similarities, and need to be studied as autochthonous. . . . The notes and references are well written and well edited, revealing further breadth and scope of scholarship. Further work on state formation and democracy from 1810 to 1900 in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Colombia, and Venezuela will be footnotes to López-Alves.”

-- Sheldon Avenius Perspectives on Political Science

“This is an ambitious comparative work . . . . Commendable as a work of synthesis and as an industrious and creative comparative exercise . . . . [I]t is a valuable addition to the academic literature and an indispensable work for any research library, certain to provide debate-provoking material for graduate seminars in the social sciences. It offers useful points for comparative researchers interested in furthering our understanding of state-building in the Americas.”

-- Victor M. Uribe-Uran The Americas

"López-Alves’s argument provides important insights into the relationship between party development and democratization in Latin America. . . . López-Alves’s work is a welcome contribution to the underdeveloped field of comparative historical sociology in Latin American studies. It will undoubtedly become a standard reference for anyone interested in political development and democracy in Latin America."

-- Gabriel L. Negretto The Journal of Latin American Studies

"This foray into the chaos of the nineteenth century is to be welcomed. . . . [T]eachers and students of nineteenth-century Latin American political history . . . will learn a lot from its theoretical rigour, its singularity of focus, and its original and revealing comparisons between a selection of Latin American states which are rarely compared."

-- Guy Thomson The Americas

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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