By tracing the complex relationship between the Sandinista
government and the Nicaraguan business elite, this book examines
the shifting mix of alliances and oppositions that shaped the
Sandinista revolution. Rose Spalding takes issue with models of the
business sector that assume a high degree of class cohesion.
Drawing on carefully structured interviews with ninety-one
private-sector leaders at the end of the Sandinista era, Spalding
documents responses to the Sandinista government that range from
extreme ideological hostility to enthusiastic support. To explain
this variation, Spalding explores such factors as the
prerevolutionary social and economic characteristics of the elite,
their organizational networks, and their experiences with
expropriation and government subsidies. She is one of the first
scholars to look at the ways in which these groups have evolved in
the postrevolutionary era under the Chamorro government. In
addition, Spalding provides a valuable analysis of four other cases
of attempted structural change, thereby drawing broader,
cross-national comparisons and developing theoretical insights
about the political character of the 'bourgeoisie.'
Originally published in 1994.
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