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Political Groups in Latin America*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

George I. Blanksten
George I. Blanksten
Affiliation:
Northwestern University
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Extract

I feel it necessary to begin with an attempt to define the term “political group” as used in this paper: it is a system of patterned or regular interaction among a number of individuals. The interaction is sufficiently patterned to permit the system to be viewed as a unit, and the action of the unit is directed toward some phase of the operation of government. Every political group has an interest. This is simply the central and continuing type of activity that gives the group its property as a system or a unit. Interest, then, is consistent with the observed pattern of interaction, and not contrary to it. “The interest and the group are the same phenomenon observed from slightly different positions, and an ‘interest group’ is a tautological expression. The interest is not a thing that exists apart from the activity or that controls activity.”

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 53 , Issue 1 , March 1959 , pp. 106 - 127
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1959

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Footnotes

*

A paper delivered at the 1958 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, St. Louis, Missouri, September, 1958. Some of the material presented was developed in connection with my work with the SSRC Committee on Comparative Politics, to which I express my indebtedness.

References

1 Hagan, Charles B., “The Group in a Political Science,” in Young, Roland A. (ed.), Approaches to the Study of Politics (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1958), pp. 38–51, particularly pp. 44–46 Google Scholar.

2 See David B, Truman, The Governmental Process (New York, 1951), passim, especially ch. 2Google Scholar.

3 y Caamaño, Jacinto Jijón, Política Conservadora (Riobamba: La Buena Prensa del Chimborazo, 1934), Vol. 1, pp. 26, 32 Google Scholar.

4 See Mecham, J. Lloyd, Church and State in Latin America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1934)Google Scholar.

5 Quoted in Blanksten, George I., Ecuador: Constitutions and Caudillos (Berkeley, 1951), p. 36 Google Scholar.

6 See Blanksten, , Perón's Argentina (Chicago, 1953), pp. 314–316 Google Scholar; and Whitaker, Arthur P., Argentine Upheaval (New York, 1956), passim Google Scholar.

7 Almond, Gabriel A., “A Comparative Study of Interest Groups and the Political Process” (unpublished paper, Committee on Comparative Politics, Social Science Research Council, 1957), p. 20 Google Scholar. See also Neumann, Sigmund, Modern Political Parties (Chicago, 1956)Google Scholar.

8 Almond, op. cit., pp. 19–20.

9 Kantor, Harry, The Ideology and Program of the Peruvian Aprista Movement (Berkeley, 1953)Google Scholar.

10 Fitzgibbon, Russell H., “The Party Potpourri in Latin America,” The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 10 (March, 1957), pp. 21–22 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11 After the initial letters of Partido Revolucionario Institutional.

12 See Padgett, L. Vincent, “Mexico's One-Party System: A Re-evaluation,” this Review, Vol. 41 (December, 1957), p. 995 Google Scholar; Brandenberg, Frank R., “Mexico: An Experiment in One-Party Democracy” (Ph.D. thesis, University of Pennsylvania, 1955)Google Scholar; and Scott, Robert E., “Mexico: Government in Transition” (Urbana, unpublished manuscript), particularly pp. 161–214 Google Scholar.

13 See below, note 15.

14 See Stevenson, John Reese, The Chilean Popular Front (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1942)Google Scholar.

15 Fitzgibbon, op. cit., p. 18; see also his Uruguay: Portrait of a Democracy (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1954), especially pp. 137–152 Google Scholar.

16 After the initial letters of Unión Cívica Radical (Radical Civic Union).

17 Pierson, William W. and Gil, Federico G., Governments of Latin America (New York, 1957), p. 31 Google Scholar.

18 Macdonald, Austin F., Latin American Politics and Government (New York, 2d ed. 1954), p. 2 Google Scholar.

19 Not connected with Spain's Generalissimo Francisco Franco.

20 Literally, “we wantist,” a popular abbreviation of “We want Vargas.”

21 Gómez, Luis Terán, Los Partidos Politícos y su Acción Democrática (La Paz: Editorial La Paz, 1942), pp. 60–61 Google Scholar.

22 After the initial letters of Partido Izquierdista Revolucionario.

23 See Alexander, Robert J., Communism in Latin America (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1957)Google Scholar.

24 Fitzgibbon, “The Party Potpourri in Latin America,” op. cit., p. 13.

25 Josephs, Ray, Argentine Diary (New York: Random House, 1944), p. xxxiii Google Scholar.

26 See Pattee, Richard, Gabriel García Moreno y el Ecuador de su Tiempo (Mexico City: Editorial Jus, 1944), passim Google Scholar.

27 After the initial letters of Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario.

28 See Kantor, ibid.; and Alexander, Robert J., “The Latin-American Aprista Parties,” Political Quarterly, Vol. 20 (1949), pp. 236–247 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

29 After the initial letters of Confederación General del Trabajo (General Confederation of Labor).

30 Confederación de Trabajadores Chilenos (Confederation of Chilean Workers).

31 Confederación del Trabajo Cubano (Confederation of Cuban Labor).

32 Confederación de Trabajadores Mexicanos (Confederation of Mexican Workers).

33 Rennie, Ysabel F., The Argentine Republic (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1945), p. 212 Google Scholar.

34 Piazza, Luis Guillermo, “There'll Always Be a Córdoba,” Americas (January, 1950), p. 27 Google Scholar.

35 See, for example, Mariátegui, José Carloa, Siete Ensayos de Interpretación de la Realidad Peruana (Lima: Editorial Librería Peruana, 1934)Google Scholar; Rycroft, W. Stanley (ed.), Indians of the High Andes (New York, Committee on Cooperation in Latin America, 1946)Google Scholar; Simpson, Eyler N., The Ejido: Mexico's Way Out (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1937)Google Scholar; Sáenz, Moisés, Sobre el Indo Ecuatoriano (Mexico City: Secretaría de Educación Pública, 1933)Google Scholar; Sáenz, , The Peruvian Indian (Washington: Strategic Index of the Americas, 1944)Google Scholar; and Sáenz, , The Indian: Citizen of America (Washington: Pan American Union, 1946)Google Scholar.

36 See Buitrón, Aníbal and Collier, John, The Awakening Valley (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1950)Google Scholar.

37 Ray Josephs, op. cit., p. 26.

38 See, for example, Nash, Manning, “Relaciones Políticas en Guatemala,” in Arriola, Jorge Luis (ed.), Integración Social en Guatemala (Guatemala City: Seminario de Integración Social, 1956), pp. 137–156 Google Scholar; and Silvert, K. H., A Study in Government: Guatemala, Part I (New Orleans: Middle American Research Institute: Tulane University, 1954), passim, especially pp. 62 ffGoogle Scholar.

39 Sáenz, , The Indian, Citizen of America, p. 1 Google Scholar.

40 These initials conveniently and interchangeably stood for Grupo de Oficiales Unidos (United Officers' group), and ¡Gobierno! ¡Orden! ¡Unidad! (Government! Order! Unity!), the group's slogan.

41 See above, p. 106, note 1.

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