Coffee and Power: Revolution and the Rise of Democracy in Central America - Hardcover

9780674136489: Coffee and Power: Revolution and the Rise of Democracy in Central America
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 

In the revolutionary decade between 1979 and 1992, it would have been difficult to find three political systems as different as death-squad-dominated El Salvador, peaceful social-democratic Costa Rica, and revolutionary Sandinista Nicaragua. Yet when the fighting was finally ended by a peace plan initiated by Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias, all three had found a common destination in democracy and free markets. To explain this extraordinary turn of events is the task of this landmark book, which fuses political economy and cultural analysis.

Both the divergent political histories and their convergent outcome were shaped by a single commodity that has dominated these export economies from the nineteenth century to the present--coffee. Jeffery Paige shows that the crises of the 1980s had their roots in the economic and political crises of the 1930s, when the revolutionary left challenged the ruling coffee elites of all three countries. He interweaves and compares the history, economics, and class structures of the three countries, thus clarifying the course of recent struggles. The heart of the book is his conversations with sixty-two leaders of fifty-eight elite dynasties, who for the first time tell their own stories of the experience of Central American revolution.

Paige's analysis challenges not only Barrington Moore's influential theory of dictatorship and democracy but also contemporary approaches to "transitions to democracy." It also shows that a focus on either political economy or culture alone cannot account for the transformation of elite ideology, and that revolution in Central America is deeply rooted in the personal, familial, and class histories of the coffee elites.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:
Over the past three decades, nearly every Central American nation has been at some stage of revolution, and understanding the numerous conflicts required a keen grasp of local politics. The facts were especially hard to discern because other countries, principally the United States, were throwing their weight around and muddying the political water. Now with a nascent peace shakily in place in Guatemala, the last conflict has come to an end, and Jeffrey M. Paige sheds some necessary light on the issues without lumping the entire region together. By focusing on the lucrative and influential business of coffee production and its connection to politics, Coffee and Power: Revolution and the Rise of Democracy in Central America looks at the shift toward democracy from the perspective of the elite class of coffee growers. Though the different nations share a common agricultural mainstay, the socioeconomic realities vary greatly, and Paige expertly negotiates the subtleties of each.
About the Author:
Jeffery M. Paige is Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780674136496: Coffee and Power: Revolution and the Rise of Democracy in Central America

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780674136496
Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1998
Softcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Paige, Jeffery M.
Published by Harvard University Press (1997)
ISBN 10: 0674136489 ISBN 13: 9780674136489
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Front Cover Books
(Denver, CO, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover0674136489

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 252.91
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.30
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Paige, Jeffery M.
Published by Harvard University Press (1997)
ISBN 10: 0674136489 ISBN 13: 9780674136489
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldBooks
(Austin, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0674136489

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 253.96
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.25
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Paige, Jeffery M.
Published by Harvard University Press (1997)
ISBN 10: 0674136489 ISBN 13: 9780674136489
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldenWavesOfBooks
(Fayetteville, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0674136489

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 254.98
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Paige, Jeffery M.
Published by Harvard University Press (1997)
ISBN 10: 0674136489 ISBN 13: 9780674136489
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Wizard Books
(Long Beach, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard0674136489

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 256.44
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.50
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds