In this major revision of the Borzoi Book Dictatorship in Spanish America, editor Hugh Hamill has presented conflicting interpretations of caudillismo in twenty-seven essays written by an international group of historians, anthropologists, sociologists, political scientists, journalists, and caudillos themselves. The selections represent revisionists, apologists, enemies, and even a victim of caudillos. The personalities discussed include the Mexican priest Miguel Hidalgo, the Argentinian gaucho Facundo Quiroga, the Guatemalan Rafael Carrera, the Colombian Rafael Núñez, Mexico’s Porfirio Díaz, the Somoza family of Nicaragua, the Dominican "Benefactor" Rafael Trujillo, the Argentinians Juan Perón and his wife Evita, Paraguay’s Alfredo Stroessner - called "The Tyrannosaur," Chile’s Augusto Pinochet, and Cuba’s Fidel Castro.
The caudlillo of Spanish America was both regional chieftain and, in the turbulent years of the early nineteenth century, national leader. His power base rested on ownership of land and control of armed bands. He was the rival of constitutional rulers and the precursor of modern dictators. His is a dominant figure in Latin American history. In this book John Lynch explores the changing character of the caudillo--bandit chief, guerrilla leader, republican hero--and examines his multi-faceted role as regional strongman war leader, landowner, distributor of patronage, and the 'necessary gendarme' who maintained social order. Professor Lynch traces the origins and development of the caudillo tradition, and sets it in its contemporary context. His scholarly analysis of this central theme in the history of Spanish America is underpinned by detailed case-studies of four major caudillos: Juan Manuel de Rosas (Argentina), Jose Antonio Paez (Venezuela), Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (Mexico), and Rafael Carrera (Guatemala). This is an important contribution to our understanding of political and social structures during the formative period of the nation-state in Spanish America.
Suggesting that better understanding of conflicts between Anglo and Latin America can come from the study of their contrasting popular fictions, the author compares the traditional attachment in Latin America to government by a strong man--a caudillo--to the diametrically opposed expansionist frontier ideology of the United States--the cowboy--who makes space safe for Anglo colonization.
Despite democratization at the national level, local political bosses still govern many municipalities in Latin America. Caudillos and clans often use informal political practices—ranging from clientelism and patronage to harassment of political opposition—to control local political dynamics. These arbitrary and, at times, abusive practices pose important challenges to how Latin American democracy works and how power is exercised after the decentralization reforms in the region. These reforms promised to bring the government closer to the people and to promote popular participation. In many cases, these ideals are unmet, and newly empowered local politicians have been able to turn municipalities into personal fiefdoms. This book explores how local caudillos stay in power and why some are more successful than others in retaining office. Tomáš Došek provides an in-depth analysis of six cases from Chile, Paraguay, and Peru to show the strategies that caudillos pursue to secure power and the mistakes they commit that drive them out.
The Last Caudillo presents a brief biography of the life and times of General Alvaro Obregón, along with new insights into the Mexican Revolution and authoritarian rule in Latin America. Features a succinct biography of the life and times of a fascinating figure in Mexico's revolutionary past Represents the most analytical and up-to-date study of caudillo/military strongman rule Sheds new light on the networks and discourse practices that support rulers such as the Castros in Cuba and Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, and the emergence of modern Mexico Offers new insights into the role of leadership, the nature of revolution, and the complex forces that helped shape modern Mexico
Covers every type of military activity, including internal and external conflicts, terrorism, coups, and conflicts born of ideological, economic, racial, and religious strife
Argentine Caudillo: Juan Manuel de Rosas, is John Lynch's new edition of his 1981 book, which is now out of print. The original has been shortened, making it well-suited for classroom use. The figure of Juan Manual de Rosas dominates the history of Argentina in the first half of the nineteenth century. Charles Darwin, who met him on campaign against the Indians, described him as 'a man of extraordinary character,' the lord of vast estates and, for over twenty years, absolute ruler of Buenos Aires and its province. The present book studies the forces which made and sustained Rosas, and examines through him the roots of the caudillo tradition in Argentina. It reconstructs the world of great estates and the rise to power of their proprietors, establishing the relation of patron and client, of master and peon, the basis of political allegiance at that time. Argentine Caudillo follows the career of Rosas as a classical caudillo, who rescued his people from fear and anarchy and delivered them into the hands of a great dictatorship. Leader of the gauchos, yet representative too of the powerful landed proprietors and cattle exporters, Rosas established an early prototype of a totalitarian state and employed systematic terror to defend his rule. The book helps to elucidate the concept and practice of caudillismo, or personal dictatorship, in the Hispanic world, and the use of violence to seize and defend power. It does this against a backdrop of transition from colony to independence, and then from anarchy to absolutism. Argentine Caudillo provides a detailed study of the use of state terror as an instrument of policy, one of the few such studies for any period of Latin American history. There is no book which duplicates this work either inside Argentina or outside. In Argentina, Rosas has become a subject of fierce controversy, partly because of his nationalism, partly because of his reign of terror. Consequently, while there is a vast bibliography on Rosas, much of it is polemical and ephemeral. This is the only scholarly and objective modern history of Rosas. Carefully preserving the identity of its predecessor, the new edition updates the background history and adjusts to recent trends in the study of the Rosas period concerning the estancia and agrarian regime, the political idealogy of Rosas, the family, and community bases of power. Argentine Caudillo: Juan Manuel de Rosas is an excellent resource for students as well as scholars on this powerful figure in Latin America.
