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Right on Crime?: Conservative Party Politics and Mano Dura Policies in El Salvador

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Alisha C. Holland
Alisha C. Holland*
Affiliation:
Harvard University
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Abstract

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Despite a growing literature on the left in Latin America, few studies have considered the fate of the right. This article examines a highly successful conservative party, the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA), which held power for close to two decades in El Salvador. The ARENA party used mano dura policies—defined by the introduction of discretionary crimes, diluted due process guarantees, and military participation in policing—to boost its support among constituencies plagued by crime. Two key factors prompted ARENA party strategists to emphasize security. First, a credible electoral threat existed from a leftist party hesitant to resort to harsh security measures. Second, factional divisions drove party strategy. Business elites who formed the core of the ARENA party refused to abandon unpopular economic reforms. Mano dura policies allowed the party to maintain support from traditional elites and their rural bases without reversals to its economic program. Party centralization facilitated the programmatic shift.

Resumen

Resumen

A pesar de investigaciones recientes sobre la izquierda en América Latina, pocos estudios contemplan la suerte de la derecha. Este artículo examina un partido conservador exitoso, la Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA), que ha mantenido poder por casi dos décadas en El Salvador. ARENA utilizó las políticas de mano dura —definido por la introducción de delitos discrecionales, la debilitación de las garantías del debido proceso y la participación de las fuerzas armadas en la seguridad ciudadana— para aumentar su apoyo con electores preocupados por la delincuencia. Dos factores claves impulsaron los estrategas de ARENA a enfocarse sobre la seguridad ciudadana. Primero, un partido de la izquierda presentó una amenaza electoral seria y no quería implementar una política de seguridad tan severa. Segundo, las divisiones internas propulsaron la estrategia del partido. Los empresarios que formaron el centro de ARENA rehusaron abandonar las reformas económicas poco populares. Las políticas de mano dura permitieron al partido mantener el apoyo de los empresarios agropecuarios y las bases rurales sin cambiar las políticas económicas. La centralización del partido ayudó al cambio programático.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 48 , Issue 1 , 2013 , pp. 44 - 67
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 by the Latin American Studies Association

Footnotes

For helpful comments on earlier drafts, I thank Jorge Domínguez, Steven Levitsky, Deborah Yashar, Miguel Centeno, Ben Ross Schneider, David Doyle, Brandon Van Dyck, James Loxton, Regina Bateson, Christopher Chambers-Ju, Andrei Roman, Charlotte Cavaille, Jesse Acevedo, Glen Weyl, and the three anonymous LARR reviewers. I acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation and the Princeton Program on Latin American Studies.

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