The Sandinista Legacy: Lessons from a Political Economy in Transition

by Ilja A. Luciak

"An original and carefully crafted piece of work. . . . Scholars and analysts working on Nicaragua will want this book."--Rose J. Spalding, DePaul University "Important contributions not only to the comparative literature of regime transitions (particularly 'post-socialist' transitions), but also to the study of Nicaragua and Central America. . . . Presents a nicely balanced picture of the Sandinista record of accomplishments and failures, including...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813013690
• ISBN13: 9780813013695
• Release Date: June 1995
• Publisher: University Press of Florida
• Length: 258 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A Worthwhile Read

This is an insightful book by an author with extensive first-hand knowledge of Nicaragua before, during, and after the Sandinista regime. This book deals extensively with issues of democracy at various levels of the Sandinista government including grassroots and mass organizations, the party, and the country as a whole. Dr. Luciak also deals extensively with the issue of agrarian reform and how Sandinista policy vaccilated as a result of the internal contradictions in the Sandanista policies of National Unity and Popular Hegemony. Finally, the book looks critically at the role the United States played in the counterrevolution and, as the title would indicate, the legacy that eleven years of socialist rule by the Sandinistas left on Nicaraguan society and its political institutions. This legacy includes the first fair electoral system in Nicaragua's history and the strengthening of other democratic institutions.