Armies without Nations: Public Violence and State Formation in Central America, 1821-1960Public violence, a persistent feature of Latin American life since the collapse of Iberian rule in the 1820s, has been especially prominent in Central America. Robert H. Holden shows how public violence shaped the states that have governed Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Linking public violence and patrimonial political cultures, he shows how the early states improvised their authority by bargaining with armed bands or montoneras. Improvisation continued into the twentieth century as the bands were gradually superseded by semi-autonomous national armies, and as new agents of public violence emerged in the form of armed insurgencies and death squads. World War II, Holden argues, set into motion the globalization of public violence. Its most dramatic manifestation in Central America was the surge in U.S. military and police collaboration with the governments of the region, beginning with the Lend-Lease program of the 1940s and continuing through the Cold War. Although the scope of public violence had already been established by the people of the Central American countries, globalization intensified the violence and inhibited attempts to shrink its scope. Drawing on archival research in all five countries as well as in the United States, Holden elaborates the connections among the national, regional, and international dimensions of public violence. Armies Without Nations crosses the borders of Central American, Latin American, and North American history, providing a model for the study of global history and politics. Armies without Nations was a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title for 2005. |
Contents
3 | |
18211939 | 7 |
Historical Dimensions of Public Violence in Latin America | 9 |
Public Violence State and Nation in Central American History | 25 |
Organizing for War | 50 |
A Democracy of Violence | 58 |
Caudillos in Search of an Army | 68 |
A New Army Finds Its Caudillo | 80 |
The United States and Central America | 119 |
Showcase of Latin America | 134 |
Distrustful Collaborator | 159 |
Remaking an Armed Rabble | 174 |
Ready to Receive Orders from Uncle Sam | 196 |
An Army Renamed | 214 |
Conclusions | 227 |
Statistical Appendix | 233 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
agreement air force April Arbenz armed forces authority Barrios Carías Caribbean caudillos Central America chief civil civilian command communist Congress conservative constitutional Correspondence and Record Costa Rica country's December defense democracy Department economic Ejército El Salvador election equipment Escuela estado faction February Figueres FOIA FRUS Gálvez grant collaboration Guardia Guatemala City Guerra hemispheric History Honduras infantry insurgents isthmian isthmus January July June junta Latin America leaders Lend-Lease Liberal Party Managua March Memoria ment mili military and police Military Assistance military attaché military collaboration NAMP Nicaragua November October officers OPS/Oper/LA organization pact Policarpo Bonilla police collaboration Política political president public violence regime reported Republic República Revolution Rican Salvadoran San José secretary social Somoza Tegucigalpa tion treaty troops U.S. ambassador U.S. Army U.S. Embassy U.S. government U.S. military U.S. military attaché U.S. military mission Ubico United University Press Villeda Washington Willauer WNRC Ydígoras Zelaya