The Peruvian Labyrinth: Polity, Society, Economy

by Maxwell A. Cameron (Editor)

A country perceived as having unusually complex political, economic, and social problems, Peru has long fascinated social scientists. The Peruvian Labyrinth brings together a new generation of scholars to explore the multifaceted Peruvian "experiment" as it has evolved further, in often dramatic ways, in the 1980s and 1990s. The volume focuses special attention on the administration of Albert Fujimori, who suspended the constitution in 1992, two years after he first became president, but then was reelected in 1995. The experience of Peru under his regime raises important questions about the nature of democracy in Latin America, the challenges of economic and political reform, and the prospects for combining stable democratic governance and sustained development. Topics covered in the volume include the legacies of democratic transitions, human rights and political violence, the decline of the Shining Path, the Fujimori "autogolpe," the changing roles of business and organized labor, the political impact of the informal sector, changes in the agrarian sector, and the shift in economic strategies from developmentalism and toward neoliberalism.

Paperback

First published August 13, 1997

Reviews

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was extremely informative. The authors manage to give the reader the entire context needed to understand the position of Peru’s government in the early 1990s. Starting from the left-aligned military dictatorship of General Velasco in the 1960s, the various authors trace the evolution of everything from economic policy, labor movements to the development of the political right up to 1997. In independent chapters, they also analyze the present state in all these threads in the Fujimori administration up to that time. Therefore, all the context helps frame both the decisions made by and limitations placed on the current Peruvian government in dealing with a worsening economic outlook to the peak of the insurgency movement of Shining Path. Lastly, while the authors refrain from preaching about what the appropriate decisions should had been, they do not hold back from criticizing the disregard for human rights or democratic values exhibited by several Peruvian administration but reaching its zenith in the Fujimori government.