Revolution And Counterrevolution In Nicaragua

A comprehensive overview of the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua, this book offers an interdisciplinary study of the domestic and foreign challenges that faced the Sandinista government during its ten years in power. Based on extensive research in Nicaragua during the revolution, the essays examine important aspects of both the revolution and the U.S.-orchestrated counterrevolution that brought it to an end. After an introduction to the historical background of the revolutionary period, contributors offer an overview of specific groups and institutions within the revolution, such as women, grass-roots organizations, and the armed forces, and provide a balanced assessment of Sandinista public policy and performance in such areas as agrarian reform, health care, education, and housing. The impact and implications of the contra war, financed by the United States, are also analyzed, as well as efforts made over the years to promote a negotiated peace.

The revolution in Nicaragua was unique in that a large percentage of the combatants were women. The Role of Female Combatants in the Nicaraguan Revolution and Counter Revolutionary War is a study of these women and those who fought in the Contra counter revolution on the Atlantic Coast. This book is a qualitative study based on 85 interviews with female ex-combatants in the revolution and counter revolution from the 1960s to the end of the 1980s, as well as field observations in Nicaragua and the autonomous regions of the Atlantic Coast. It explores the reasons why women fought, the sacrifices they made, their treatment by male combatants, and their insights into the impact of the revolution and counter-revolution on today’s Nicaragua. The analytical approach draws from political psychology, social identity dynamics such as nationalism and indigenous identities, and the role of liberation theology in the willingness of the female revolutionaries to risk their lives. Researchers and students of Gender Studies, Latin American and Latino Studies, and Political History will find this an illuminating account of the Nicaraguan Revolution and counter revolution, which until now has been rarely shared.

First published in 1986, Nicaragua, written from an insider's point of view breaks the barrier of disinformation which has surrounded the Sandinista revolution. To accomplish this task the author discusses the major forces that have shaped Nicaragua’s development during the past decade as well as all pertinent events leading to and following the revolution. It is the author's contention that the Sandinista revolution is an unusual combination of armed struggle to reach power and democratic procedures to build a new society. This makes the revolution a very dangerous example for the stability of a hegemonic state that tries to pacify the needs of the masses by means of repression and spurious applications of democratic principles. This book's main thesis is that socialism and democracy are not contradictory but are part of the same process. Thus, any attempt to think in terms of necessary stages is misreading the classics of Marx and Lenin. This book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of political science, Latin American studies, Latin American history and politics.

Since the revolution in 1979, Nicaragua has faced economic dislocation, a growing debt, chronic hard currency shortages, a counter-revolutionary war, economic and diplomatic pressure from the US, and regional isolation. In spite of these challenging problems, the Sandinista leadership, maintaining a broad array of international contacts, continues

An interdisciplinary study of the domestic and foreign challenges that faced the Sandinista government during its ten years in power in Nicaragua. The essays examine important aspects of both the Sandinista revolution and the US-orchestrated counter-revolution that brought it to an end.

The Sandinista revolution brought dramatic social, economic and political changes to Nicaragua in the 1980s, but in the wake of the electoral defeat of the FSLN in 1990 the revolution has struggled to survive in the face of challenges from the Chamorro administration, the US government, and the International Monetary Fund. Gains of the revolution in health care, education, Atlantic Coast autonomy, agrarian reform, and other areas have been systematically eroded. However, significant efforts have also been mounted, especially in grass roots organizing and by women's organizations, to protect the revolution's achievements. Through a series of articles based on current research, seven experts on contemporary Nicaragua draw a balance sheet on the gains of Sandinista revolution achieved by 1990 and assess the current status of the revolutionary project.

Studies of economic structure, social systems and political systems which form the background for revolution and counter-revolution in Central America and the Caribbean - analyses the role of USA economic relations, tensions in the Catholic Church, agricultural policies, influence of the armed forces, the ruling classes and business; includes case studies of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Jamaica and Nicaragua; discusses international dimensions of political problems, esp. The role of Cuba, role of Mexico, role of USSR and USA. References.

Journalist Christian's masterful, evenhanded account of Nicaragua's Sandinistas derives from years of interviews and on-the-scene observations. Beginning with the last days of the Somoza regime, she details the morass of political intrigue through November 1984. The problem is, she argues, that the success of ``sandinismo'' turned the people from instigators of change into objects of change, both in the eyes of the church and of the state. As the center of the struggle flew out of control onto the battlefields of Havana, Washington, Rome, and Panama, democratic principles were subordinated to other peoples' needs, a no-win situation for the peasants. To draw conclusions about Nicaragua, Christian emphasizes, is a lot more difficult than superficial U.S. policy would imply.