The State, Elite, and Export in Nineteenth Century Peru: Toward an Alternative Reinterpretation of Political Change
- 1 August 1979
- journal article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs
- Vol. 21 (3) , 395-418
- https://doi.org/10.2307/165730
Abstract
In a recent reinterpretation of political change in Peru between independence and World War I, Berg and Weaver (1978) suggest that the rise of guano export beginning in the 1840s led to important changes in socioeconomic relations within the country. In consequence, a centralized and powerful state emerged which asserted its authority over the formerly dominant provincial elites. On this point, Berg and Weaver's analysis is not inconsistent with existing literature on the period (Basadre, 1963; Pike, 1967; Bonilla, 1974). But their argument that by retaining control over guano export the state acquired the financial resources with which to establish its independence from newly emerging urban elites does not seem completely valid.Keywords
This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- Modernization, Dislocation, and AprismoPublished by University of Texas Press ,1973
- The Colonial Heritage of Latin AmericaMonthly Review, 1970