State Formation, Democratization, and the Development of Civil Society in Nicaragua

The election of Daniel Ortega to the Nicaraguan presidency on November 5, 2006, temporarily refocused the attention of Washington and the U.S. media on Nicaraguan politics. Ortega's electoral success was one of a string of victories for leftist candidates in Latin America, sparking debate over the causes and consequences of the election of unprecedented numbers of presidents from left-leaning parties and coalitions. His return to power reminds us that democracy in Nicaragua is as much a question now as it was when the Sandinistas were defeated at the polls in 1990. During the 1980s, the Frente Sandinista de Liberation Nacional (Sandinista National Liberation Front—FSLN) led a massive popular insurrection against the Somoza dic tatorship. The revolutionary government that assumed power pledged to transform Nicaragua through home construction, employment generation, literacy and health improvement, and land redistribution. While its literacy and health programs received international recognition, the consolidation of democracy remained elusive, and the initial revolutionary hope for quick and meaningful change was shattered by a failing economy and a polarized electorate. Whereas the Carter administration cautiously accepted the new FSLN govern ment, which it considered extremely radical, the Reagan administration aggressively opposed it, attempting to force its removal through a CIA-organized proxy force, the Contras, which conducted a decade-long war of sabotage and terror against the people of Nicaragua in which more than 50,000 people died (Walker, 1991: 8). An increase in defense spending of 43 percent between 1980 and 1986 reduced the government's capacity to support its social welfare programs (Fitzgerald, 1987). As a result, health and social programs, house and school construction, the development of water and energy resources, and subsidies for basic grain production were all suspended. Moreover, the United States used its political leverage to ensure that international lending agencies gave no new loans to Nicaragua. In the decade following the Sandinista victory, the gross national product (GNP) per capita averaged US$635.56 (BCN, 2009: 3-5). In 1989, however, GNP per capita was US$252.3, the lowest since

Administration (probate law) · Authoritarianism · Democracy · Democratization · Economic history · Latin Americans · Left-wing politics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Presidency · Sociology · State (computer science) · History · International Development and Aid · Law · Microfinance and Financial Inclusion · Public Administration

• The Responsible Electorate

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• The Responsible Electorate

  Open Access•Philip E Converse•Political Science Quarterly•1966

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• A Faustian Bargain

  Thomas P Anderson, William I Robinson•Hispanic American Historical Review•1993

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