From Quiescence to Rebellion: Peasant Political Activity in Costa Rica and Pre-Revolutionary Nicaragua.

This is a study of peasant political experiences and attitudes in contemporary Costa Rica and pre-revolutionary Nicaragua. The author spent one year in these two countries. The work draws upon in-depth interviews in five villages, three in Costa Rica and two in Nicaragua, and upon village surveys. Individual peasant communities comprise the primary units of analysis. The emphasis is upon organized political action. In Costa Rica political action studied included voting, petitions, demonstrations, strikes, and l and invasion. In Nicaragua the study examines peasant participation in the revolution as well as peasant quiescence during revolution. The work draws upon several theories of peasant revolution as well as one historical theory of riot action among the poor in eighteenth century Engl and . The study tests these theories among the peasantry in Central America. The author applies the theories to peasant quiescence and non-violent forms of organized political action as well as to peasant revolution in an effort to ascertain the relevance of the theories in another region of the world and in these widely divergent circumstances. From these theories and from peasant testimony the work develops a theory of peasant political action based upon peasant notions of economic justice and social morality. The theory developed begins with the moral economy and the right of subsistence as described by E. P. Thompson and James C. Scott. It exp and s this theory to explain peasant convictions of economic rights and morality which include but are not limited to subsistence. They also embrace levels of economic affluence above subsistence, expectations of relative equity, and the right to human dignity. The evidence suggests that as poverty, oppression, and injustice, as perceived by the peasantry, increase, the political action chosen becomes increasingly assertive. The greater the injustice perpetrated the more defensive and determined will be the political action undertaken. The villages studied range in action from voluntary, reasoned quiescence to violent revolution. One exceptional Nicaraguan community remained quiescent throughout the revolutionary years prior to 1979. The three Costa Rican communities organized petitions, demonstrations, and strikes. The final community studied, a Nicaraguan village which participated in the revolution, was also the poorest and most oppressed village of all.PhDPolitical scienceUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/161503/1/8720232.pd