POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT AND DEMOCRACY IN PERU: CONTINUITY WITHIN CHANGE AND CRISIS

Abstract

This study examines the development of Peruvian politics and government from 1962 to 1985. It describes the programs and policies of the interim military junta (1962-63), the Velasco (1968-75) and Morales Bermudez (1975-80) phases of the Armed Forces Revolution, and the two Belaunde administrations (1963-68, 80-85) and posits a basic commonality of goals and continuity of reforms despite differences in policy orientation and emphasis. The study begins with a contextual discussion of the ideological underpinnings of contemporary Peruvian political reform, establishing linkages to the revolutionary thought of Gonzalez Prada, Mariategui, and Haya de la Torre, as well as to the more moderate reformist positions of Víctor Andres Belaunde, Bustamante y Rivero, and Basadre. Continuing with an in-depth historical analysis of the period under study, the contextual discussion demonstrates the underlying continuities of political reform in the programs and goals of the several regimes. The focus of the study then shifts to an analysis of the reformist and democratic evolution of the Peruvian polity. It analyzes the central government's budgets according to administrative, social, and economic categories. The analysis demonstrates all the governments since 1962 pursued generally common reformist policies and none reversed the progressive trend set. An analysis of Peruvian foreign policy reorientations vis-a-vis the United States, the Socialist bloc, and the Third World shows that the progressive changes and reforms begun under one administration continued to evolve and crystalize under the policies of succeeding governments. The point is highlighted by an analysis of Peru's voting pattern in the United Nations General Assembly, where divergence with U.S. policy became greater with each change in government after 1963. Finally, in looking to overall political development as political modernization and institutionalization, the analysis shows that Peru has undergone progressive and incremental changes heightening political awareness and participation and thus strengthening its potential for political democracy and social development. Each government since 1962 made substantial, if varying, contributions to the increase of political legitimacy and stability within the polity. In sum, a continuum of political development prevailed.