Could electoral democracy generate radical change? : Debates within Guatemala's radical left in the 1960s

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Date
2014-08-29Author
Silver, Scott
Type
ThesisDegree Level
MastersMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Throughout the 1960s, Guatemala’s radical left became consumed in an internal debate concerning the revolutionary strategy they believed should be followed to generate radical socio-political and economic changes in Guatemala. Confronting the societal anxieties that accompanied advances in modernity, such as growing wealth inequality, new forms of social poverty, and the marginalization of the fragments in Guatemalan society (primarily, peasants and workers), Guatemala’s radical left encountered a fundamental quandary in the development of its revolutionary methodology. Should they work within the confines of electoral democracy to realize radical reforms or, as a militant faction of the radical left increasingly proposed, would radical changes require an armed struggle aimed at toppling the nation’s entire system of governance?
Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)Department
HistoryProgram
HistorySupervisor
Handy, JimCommittee
Wright, Sharon; Smith-Norris, MarthaCopyright Date
August 2014Subject
Guatemala
1960s
revolutionary theory and praxis