Power and Consolidation in the Nicaraguan Revolution

Bibliographic Data

ID3354451
AuthorsStephen M Gorman (corresponding author)
Year1981
Volume13
Issue1
Pages133-149
Publication date1981-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Latin American Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-216X • E-ISSN: 1469-767X
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0022216x00006192
OpenAlexW1982787563
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited9

At the end of its first year, the revolutionary process in Nicaragua must be considered a success from several different perspectives. The war-torn economy has been stabilized, a progressive agrarian reform program initiated, a large state sector formed on the basis of expropriatedSomocistaproperty, an independent foreign policy adopted, and a massive literacy campaign launched throughout the country. Most important, however, has been the imposition of a high degree of political stability coupled with, and partially growing out of, the consolidation of power in the hands of a cohesive revolutionary vanguard. The ability of the Sandinista Front of National Liberation (FSLN) to establish its hegemony in post-Somoza Nicaragua has permitted the government to move decisively on a number of critical fronts and to escape power-sharing formulas that could have turned the policymaking process into a protracted struggle against entrenched interests. The foundation of Sandinista control over the government is simple: as Comandante Humberto Ortega explained, 'We took power by arms, and it should be clear who has power in Nicaragua today

Consolidation (business) · Economics · Hegemony · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Sociology · Vanguard · Historical Studies in Central America · History · International Relations in Latin America · Law · Social and Economic Solidarity