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DYNAMICS OF POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION

Explore the evolution of political regimes from oligarchic rule to contemporary democracies, examining social structures, power dynamics, and historical revolutions in Mexico and Cuba.

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DYNAMICS OF POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION

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  1. DYNAMICS OF POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION

  2. TYPES OF POLITICAL REGIME • Democracy • Oligarchic • Co-optative • Liberal (elections with citizen rights) • Illiberal (elections w/o citizen rights) • Authoritarianism • Traditional (“man on horseback”) • One-party rule • Bureaucratic (B-A regimes) • Revolutionary

  3. CHANGE OVER TIME • Oligarchic Rule and Top-down Reform (1880s-1920s) • Military strongmen • “Oligarchic democracy” • Co-optative democracy • Populism and Dictatorship (1930s-1970s) • Co-optative democracy • Populist alliances/corporatist states • Women and politics • A democratic surge [1940s-70s] • Bureaucratic-authoritarian regimes

  4. CHANGE OVER TIME [cont.] • The Revolutionary Path (1950s-1980s) • “plantation societies” • Cuba, Nicaragua—and others? • A Renewal of Democracies (1980s-present) • “unsolvable problems” • pressure from below • ending of Cold War • absence of ideology • Rise of the “new left”? (1998-present) • Politics of protest/use of ballot box • Chávez v. Lula • prospects?

  5. SOCIAL STRUCTURE • Upper Class: • Urban (industrialists, bankers) • Rural (landowners) • Middle Class: • Urban (merchants, lawyers, etc.) • Rural (small farmers) • Popular/Lower Class: • Urban (workers) • Rural (peasants, campesinos) • National Institutions: • State (including military) • Church • External Sector: • Economic (investors, merchants) • Political (foreign governments)

  6. KEY QUESTIONS • What social groups are present? Or missing? • What kinds of coalitions are in play? On what basis? • What are the lines of social conflict? Vertical or horizontal? Social class or race/ethnicity? • Who has political power? How inclusive is the system? Who is denied access?

  7. COMPARING CASES • Mexico: Revolution of 1910 + dominant-party system • Central America and Caribbean: plantation society, U.S. influence, dictatorship and protest • Cuba: plantation society, socialist revolution, resistance to United States • Question A: Compare Mexican and Cuban revolutions • Question B: Trace colonial legacies in Mexico and Cuba • Question C (for later reference): Why not more revolutionary ferment in CA + Caribbean? Given strong resemblance to Cuba?

  8. COMPARING REVOLUTIONS • Mexico (pre-1910) • Alliance: landowners + foreigners + state = “integrating dictatorship” of Porfirio Díaz (1876-1910) • Peasants > working class • Weak middle class • Mexico (post-1930s) • Alliance: workers + peasants + state = populist authoritarian regime • Demise of landowning class • Inclusion of industrialists + foreign + state = pro-developmental policies • Electoral democracy (2000-present)

  9. COMPARING REVOLUTIONS • Cuba (pre-1959) • Plantation society = Alliance: state + foreign + landowners = personalistic dictatorship tied to U.S. interests • Need for seasonal rural labor • Workers and peasants linked but excluded from politics, thus revolutionary “mentality” • Military corrupt, weak • Cuba (post-1959) • Revolutionary state in command of workers, peasants, urban and rural middle classes • Strong military and autonomous state apparatus • Dependence on foreign protector (USSR)

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