Political Policy: The Sandanista Revolution and Democratization

The purpose of this article will be to explore the question of the development of democracy in Nicaragua with emphasis on the period from 1979 to the present. The primary focus will be on the role of democracy within the framework of the Sandinista revolution including the eleven years of FSLN state power and the last four years during which the Sandinistas have been the primary opposition party. It will be the primary contention of the paper that a profound democratization of Nicaragua began with the rise of the FSLN to power in 1979. It will also assert that while democratization has not been definitely reversed during the conservative rule of Chamorro and Aleman it has been weakened. The article\u27s primary conclusions will run directly against those who argue that Nicaraguan process of democratization began only with the assumption of power of the UNO coalition in April 1990