Anita Isaacs - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Anita Isaacs
Latin American Research Review
The armed conflicts that ravaged Central America during the 1980s sparked a mass exodus of refuge... more The armed conflicts that ravaged Central America during the 1980s sparked a mass exodus of refugees. By war's end over a million of the region's citizens had become internally displaced and another two million had fled north, settling in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. 1 Almost three decades have passed since the signing of peace, yet migration
Si los procesos de consolidación democrática requiriesen únicamente de un lapso durante el cual l... more Si los procesos de consolidación democrática requiriesen únicamente de un lapso durante el cual los partidos políticos compitiesen en elecciones justas y regulares, entonces el Ecuador sería un fuerte candidato a ser admitido en la categoría de democracias consolidadas. Más aún si tomamos en cuenta que las Fuerzas Armadas ecuatorianas se retiraron a sus cuarteles hace más de una década y desde entonces, cuatro presidentes civiles han ejercido el poder en forma sucesiva, existiendo una alternancia entre representantes de la derecha política y de la centro-izquierda. El poder civil también ha debido pasar por una serie de importantes pruebas como fueron la muerte del presidente de transición Jaime Roldós en 1981; algunos rumores de intentos de golpes de estado durante la administración de su sucesor, Osvaldo Hurtado (19811984); persistentes choques entre el gobierno y las fuerzas de oposición que alcanzaron niveles sin precedentes durante el régimen del presidente León Febres Cordero ...
Countries emerging from civil war and repressive dictatorship have tested a variety of transition... more Countries emerging from civil war and repressive dictatorship have tested a variety of transitional justice mechanisms, often in combination with one another. Most have opted for truth commissions, a few have established tribunals, domestic or international, others have purged and reformed key institutions (the security forces, the intelligence apparatus and the judiciary), several have pursued reparations and the occasional country, like Spain, has simply tried to forget. This essay examines the politics of memory in Guatemala, which has been more experimental than many of its peers. Guatemalans have pursued truth, clashed over justice, confronted the challenges of reparations and tinkered with institutional reforms, the first three of which are my principal focus here.
Military Rule and Transition in Ecuador, 1972–92, 1993
The wave of military coups that swept through Latin America beginning in the mid-1960s ushered in... more The wave of military coups that swept through Latin America beginning in the mid-1960s ushered into power a new model of dictatorship. Gone were the days when ambitious military dictators unabashedly set about accumulating personal power. Likewise, the era when coups produced caretaker military regimes which performed a regulatory function had also come to an end. Defending the need for intervention to rescue their nations from turmoil, these new military rulers now proclaimed the establishment of institutional regimes committed to a fundamental restructuring of the political and economic order. In a message addressed to the Argentine people in the immediate aftermath of the 1976 coup, General Jorge Videla succinctly expressed the messianic mission of the new military dictatorships: ‘[the coup] represent[s] more than the mere overthrow of a government. [It] signif[ies] the final closing of a historic cycle and the opening of a new one whose fundamental characteristic will be manifested by the reorganisation of the nation, a task undertaken with a true spirit of service by the armed forces.’1
Military Rule and Transition in Ecuador, 1972–92, 1993
... Guillermo O'Donnell, Illusions and Conceptual Flaws: A Response, , The Global Diverge... more ... Guillermo O'Donnell, Illusions and Conceptual Flaws: A Response, , The Global Divergence of Democracies, Diamond, L. and Plattner, M. eds (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University ... Quentin Quade, PR and Democratic Statecraft, The Global Resurgence of Democracy, eds. ...
Military Rule and Transition in Ecuador, 1972–92, 1993
On 30 August 1975 disgruntled Ecuadorian officers, acting under the leadership of General Raul Go... more On 30 August 1975 disgruntled Ecuadorian officers, acting under the leadership of General Raul Gonzalez Alvear, attempted a coup. Although the effort was aborted it paved the way for the initiation of a transition to civilian rule. Factionalism and politicisation lay at the heart of the failed coup and the military’s eventual withdrawal from power; the circumstances surrounding the coup attempt dramatised those central aspects of military rule in Ecuador which are addressed in this chapter.
Choice Reviews Online, 1994
Military intervention development and reform under military rule civilian opposition military fac... more Military intervention development and reform under military rule civilian opposition military factionalism and politicization democratic transition and consolidation.
International Journal of Transitional Justice, 2010
Truth seeking in postwar Guatemala is a political battleground in which perpetrators intent on gu... more Truth seeking in postwar Guatemala is a political battleground in which perpetrators intent on guarding against accountability confront victims' associations equally intent on exposing abuses endured during the country's 36-year armed conflict. Having stage-managed the peace negotiations that established the restrictive parameters of Guatemala's Commission for Historical Clarification (CEH), army officers and guerilla leaders ceded control of truth seeking to Commission staff and their civil society partners, even as the latter mobilized to push the CEH to its investigative limits. The CEH final report's finding that the army had committed genocide galvanized both sides. Victims' associations insist on more truth alongside justice and reparations, while army perpetrators reject incriminating Commission findings. The Guatemalan case reveals how truth initiatives are at once politicized and polarizing and how politics interfere with a truth commission's effort to produce a consensus history, end violence or afford reconciliation. While it confirms that confronting the past risks undermining the labor of transition architects, it also suggests that these may be necessary evils that could eventually contribute to transforming and strengthening democracy.
Bulletin of Latin American Research, 1991
over a decade ago. Since then, four civilian presidents have succeeded each other in office, with... more over a decade ago. Since then, four civilian presidents have succeeded each other in office, with power alternating between representatives of the political centre-left and right. Civilian rule has also withstood a series of significant challenges, including the death of transition President Jaime Roldos in 1981, rumoured coup attempts during the ensuing administration of Osvaldo Hurtado (1981-1984), persistent clashes between the govern? ment and opposition forces that reached unprecedented levels during the regime of President Leon Febres Cordero (1984-1988), and the 1986 rebellions of Air Force General Frank Vargas and subsequent kidnapping of President Febres in early 1987.2 In the Ecuadorian case, however, appearances may be misleading. Certainly, while the ability to overcome many of the challenges that the Ecuadorian political system has confronted during the past decade highlight the resilience of civilian rule, they also attest to its continuing fragility. This article will explore both the obstacles to democratic stability and the factors working to sustain a fragile civilian political system, and conclude by suggest? ing that it is premature to consider Ecuadorian democracy consolidated.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics, 2020
Since the mid-20th century, the Guatemalan military has played a prominent role in the country’s ... more Since the mid-20th century, the Guatemalan military has played a prominent role in the country’s political life. Yet, this was not always the case. During Guatemala’s first century of independence, the armed forces operated largely as the pawn of personalist rulers and oligarchic elites, utilizing coercion to quell labor unrest and impose order in the countryside. Developments during the Cold War era, however, transformed the Guatemalan military into a centralized source of political and economic power and the key protagonist in domestic politics. Following World War II and on the heels of popular uprising, nationalist junior army officers ushered in a series of popular reforms, which included land redistribution. A 1954 CIA-orchestrated coup supported by the Guatemalan oligarchy and reactionary military factions toppled Guatemala’s “Democratic Spring,” reversed the reforms, and paved the way for four decades of hardline military rule. The subsequent rise of a leftist insurgent move...
... | 6 x 9. Reviews. Robert Pastor maintains that the collapse of Communism is less important in... more ... | 6 x 9. Reviews. Robert Pastor maintains that the collapse of Communism is less important in permitting the United States to escape the whirlpool of Latin American politics than are the new trends of democracy and freer trade in the region. Reviews: "An impressive volume. . . . ...
Journal of Democracy, 2010
... It was amid this charged atmosphere that the abovementioned investigators proceeded under the... more ... It was amid this charged atmosphere that the abovementioned investigators proceeded under the auspices of the UN-supported International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), which had been set up back in August 2007 to build investigative and ...
Journal of Democracy, 2010
... It was amid this charged atmosphere that the abovementioned investigators proceeded under the... more ... It was amid this charged atmosphere that the abovementioned investigators proceeded under the auspices of the UN-supported International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), which had been set up back in August 2007 to build investigative and ...
Latin American Research Review
The armed conflicts that ravaged Central America during the 1980s sparked a mass exodus of refuge... more The armed conflicts that ravaged Central America during the 1980s sparked a mass exodus of refugees. By war's end over a million of the region's citizens had become internally displaced and another two million had fled north, settling in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. 1 Almost three decades have passed since the signing of peace, yet migration
Si los procesos de consolidación democrática requiriesen únicamente de un lapso durante el cual l... more Si los procesos de consolidación democrática requiriesen únicamente de un lapso durante el cual los partidos políticos compitiesen en elecciones justas y regulares, entonces el Ecuador sería un fuerte candidato a ser admitido en la categoría de democracias consolidadas. Más aún si tomamos en cuenta que las Fuerzas Armadas ecuatorianas se retiraron a sus cuarteles hace más de una década y desde entonces, cuatro presidentes civiles han ejercido el poder en forma sucesiva, existiendo una alternancia entre representantes de la derecha política y de la centro-izquierda. El poder civil también ha debido pasar por una serie de importantes pruebas como fueron la muerte del presidente de transición Jaime Roldós en 1981; algunos rumores de intentos de golpes de estado durante la administración de su sucesor, Osvaldo Hurtado (19811984); persistentes choques entre el gobierno y las fuerzas de oposición que alcanzaron niveles sin precedentes durante el régimen del presidente León Febres Cordero ...
Countries emerging from civil war and repressive dictatorship have tested a variety of transition... more Countries emerging from civil war and repressive dictatorship have tested a variety of transitional justice mechanisms, often in combination with one another. Most have opted for truth commissions, a few have established tribunals, domestic or international, others have purged and reformed key institutions (the security forces, the intelligence apparatus and the judiciary), several have pursued reparations and the occasional country, like Spain, has simply tried to forget. This essay examines the politics of memory in Guatemala, which has been more experimental than many of its peers. Guatemalans have pursued truth, clashed over justice, confronted the challenges of reparations and tinkered with institutional reforms, the first three of which are my principal focus here.
Military Rule and Transition in Ecuador, 1972–92, 1993
The wave of military coups that swept through Latin America beginning in the mid-1960s ushered in... more The wave of military coups that swept through Latin America beginning in the mid-1960s ushered into power a new model of dictatorship. Gone were the days when ambitious military dictators unabashedly set about accumulating personal power. Likewise, the era when coups produced caretaker military regimes which performed a regulatory function had also come to an end. Defending the need for intervention to rescue their nations from turmoil, these new military rulers now proclaimed the establishment of institutional regimes committed to a fundamental restructuring of the political and economic order. In a message addressed to the Argentine people in the immediate aftermath of the 1976 coup, General Jorge Videla succinctly expressed the messianic mission of the new military dictatorships: ‘[the coup] represent[s] more than the mere overthrow of a government. [It] signif[ies] the final closing of a historic cycle and the opening of a new one whose fundamental characteristic will be manifested by the reorganisation of the nation, a task undertaken with a true spirit of service by the armed forces.’1
Military Rule and Transition in Ecuador, 1972–92, 1993
... Guillermo O'Donnell, Illusions and Conceptual Flaws: A Response, , The Global Diverge... more ... Guillermo O'Donnell, Illusions and Conceptual Flaws: A Response, , The Global Divergence of Democracies, Diamond, L. and Plattner, M. eds (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University ... Quentin Quade, PR and Democratic Statecraft, The Global Resurgence of Democracy, eds. ...
Military Rule and Transition in Ecuador, 1972–92, 1993
On 30 August 1975 disgruntled Ecuadorian officers, acting under the leadership of General Raul Go... more On 30 August 1975 disgruntled Ecuadorian officers, acting under the leadership of General Raul Gonzalez Alvear, attempted a coup. Although the effort was aborted it paved the way for the initiation of a transition to civilian rule. Factionalism and politicisation lay at the heart of the failed coup and the military’s eventual withdrawal from power; the circumstances surrounding the coup attempt dramatised those central aspects of military rule in Ecuador which are addressed in this chapter.
Choice Reviews Online, 1994
Military intervention development and reform under military rule civilian opposition military fac... more Military intervention development and reform under military rule civilian opposition military factionalism and politicization democratic transition and consolidation.
International Journal of Transitional Justice, 2010
Truth seeking in postwar Guatemala is a political battleground in which perpetrators intent on gu... more Truth seeking in postwar Guatemala is a political battleground in which perpetrators intent on guarding against accountability confront victims' associations equally intent on exposing abuses endured during the country's 36-year armed conflict. Having stage-managed the peace negotiations that established the restrictive parameters of Guatemala's Commission for Historical Clarification (CEH), army officers and guerilla leaders ceded control of truth seeking to Commission staff and their civil society partners, even as the latter mobilized to push the CEH to its investigative limits. The CEH final report's finding that the army had committed genocide galvanized both sides. Victims' associations insist on more truth alongside justice and reparations, while army perpetrators reject incriminating Commission findings. The Guatemalan case reveals how truth initiatives are at once politicized and polarizing and how politics interfere with a truth commission's effort to produce a consensus history, end violence or afford reconciliation. While it confirms that confronting the past risks undermining the labor of transition architects, it also suggests that these may be necessary evils that could eventually contribute to transforming and strengthening democracy.
Bulletin of Latin American Research, 1991
over a decade ago. Since then, four civilian presidents have succeeded each other in office, with... more over a decade ago. Since then, four civilian presidents have succeeded each other in office, with power alternating between representatives of the political centre-left and right. Civilian rule has also withstood a series of significant challenges, including the death of transition President Jaime Roldos in 1981, rumoured coup attempts during the ensuing administration of Osvaldo Hurtado (1981-1984), persistent clashes between the govern? ment and opposition forces that reached unprecedented levels during the regime of President Leon Febres Cordero (1984-1988), and the 1986 rebellions of Air Force General Frank Vargas and subsequent kidnapping of President Febres in early 1987.2 In the Ecuadorian case, however, appearances may be misleading. Certainly, while the ability to overcome many of the challenges that the Ecuadorian political system has confronted during the past decade highlight the resilience of civilian rule, they also attest to its continuing fragility. This article will explore both the obstacles to democratic stability and the factors working to sustain a fragile civilian political system, and conclude by suggest? ing that it is premature to consider Ecuadorian democracy consolidated.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics, 2020
Since the mid-20th century, the Guatemalan military has played a prominent role in the country’s ... more Since the mid-20th century, the Guatemalan military has played a prominent role in the country’s political life. Yet, this was not always the case. During Guatemala’s first century of independence, the armed forces operated largely as the pawn of personalist rulers and oligarchic elites, utilizing coercion to quell labor unrest and impose order in the countryside. Developments during the Cold War era, however, transformed the Guatemalan military into a centralized source of political and economic power and the key protagonist in domestic politics. Following World War II and on the heels of popular uprising, nationalist junior army officers ushered in a series of popular reforms, which included land redistribution. A 1954 CIA-orchestrated coup supported by the Guatemalan oligarchy and reactionary military factions toppled Guatemala’s “Democratic Spring,” reversed the reforms, and paved the way for four decades of hardline military rule. The subsequent rise of a leftist insurgent move...
... | 6 x 9. Reviews. Robert Pastor maintains that the collapse of Communism is less important in... more ... | 6 x 9. Reviews. Robert Pastor maintains that the collapse of Communism is less important in permitting the United States to escape the whirlpool of Latin American politics than are the new trends of democracy and freer trade in the region. Reviews: "An impressive volume. . . . ...
Journal of Democracy, 2010
... It was amid this charged atmosphere that the abovementioned investigators proceeded under the... more ... It was amid this charged atmosphere that the abovementioned investigators proceeded under the auspices of the UN-supported International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), which had been set up back in August 2007 to build investigative and ...
Journal of Democracy, 2010
... It was amid this charged atmosphere that the abovementioned investigators proceeded under the... more ... It was amid this charged atmosphere that the abovementioned investigators proceeded under the auspices of the UN-supported International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), which had been set up back in August 2007 to build investigative and ...