The State, Society, and Politics in Peru and Mexico in the Late Colonial and Early Republican Periods

Abstract

The central feature that united the late colonial period, the Wars of Independence, and the early republican decades in Latin America was the destruction of the colonial political and economic order by a combination of world events and internal forces, clearing the path for capitalist development. The events of this era are part of protracted bourgeois revolutions. This statement does not imply that the political struggles of the early 19th century were led by unified bourgeoisies with clear visions of what changes they desired, nor that the transformations were rapidly successful. The absence of a revolutionizing bourgeoisie does not suggest a contrast with contemporaneous events in Europe. Many Latin Americanists implicitly compare events in Latin America with an idealized vision of European transitions. They telescope European events, emphasizing a class-conscious bourgeoisie at the forefront of successful political and economic revolutions. They then present the lack of a strong, unified bourgeoisie in post-Independence Latin America as the cause of political instability and economic underdevelopment. However, in Europe as in Latin America, complex, multiclass alliances both promoted and opposed these changes.