Advances in public policy and administration (APPA) book series, 2020
From the late 1960s throughout the 1970s, Argentina saw the rise and demise of more than a dozen ... more From the late 1960s throughout the 1970s, Argentina saw the rise and demise of more than a dozen guerrilla organizations. Were they the result of the weakeness of Argentine democracy? Or rather, were they themselves a form of political radicalization that arose by linking left politics with a worker culture of struggle and feelings of oppression? If the latter, political violence became a way to express demands and as such a type of democratic practice by the underclass. This chapter examines a specific guerrilla organization, the PRT-ERP, by seeking to answer who were its members, why did they join such a group, what they believed. The sources for this research include both documents and extensive interviews with members of the guerrilla.
In 1980 most South American nations were subjected to dictatorships; scarcely one decade later th... more In 1980 most South American nations were subjected to dictatorships; scarcely one decade later these regimes had given way to democratic openings. Even Paraguay’s General Stroessner –the continent’s longest lasting dictator— had been overthrown to give way to an elected government. The resurgence of democracy in South America in the last decade or so came as a surprise to many who saw the continent as producing conditions which favored only the exercise of tyranny. Still, as John Markoff (1997) wrote, South American democracy will indeed remain surprising to those who think of democracy as a single, fixed ideal which nations at one time or another more or less attain. If we ask questions about what kind of democracy has developed and in whose interests, about the constraints on democracy in the nation-state of transnational capitalism, then it may be possible to see that what it really amounts to is a periodic exercise of the vote. Perhaps the masses are permitted democracy only when the alternatives for the elite seem worse, or when prospects for change are remote. If so, then the possibility of a fuller democratic system seems grim indeed.
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), Oct 1, 2004
Most Argentine history considers the Left as relatively strange to popular tradition. However, Ar... more Most Argentine history considers the Left as relatively strange to popular tradition. However, Argentina has numerous examples of labor and rural struggles in small and middle provincial towns. This main idea that guides this paper is that there is a persistence of an underground leftist culture in Argentina that permeates society, including small townships. This culture expresses a form of consciousness that has permitted the survival of the organized Left in spite of repression, and which helps to explain the persistence and harshness of social conflict over the last fifty years. This research has selected three medium sized cities of Cordoba province, between 1918 and 1976, in order to trace social struggles and their relationship to different forms of the organized and cultural left.
Advances in public policy and administration (APPA) book series, 2020
From the late 1960s throughout the 1970s, Argentina saw the rise and demise of more than a dozen ... more From the late 1960s throughout the 1970s, Argentina saw the rise and demise of more than a dozen guerrilla organizations. Were they the result of the weakeness of Argentine democracy? Or rather, were they themselves a form of political radicalization that arose by linking left politics with a worker culture of struggle and feelings of oppression? If the latter, political violence became a way to express demands and as such a type of democratic practice by the underclass. This chapter examines a specific guerrilla organization, the PRT-ERP, by seeking to answer who were its members, why did they join such a group, what they believed. The sources for this research include both documents and extensive interviews with members of the guerrilla.
In 1980 most South American nations were subjected to dictatorships; scarcely one decade later th... more In 1980 most South American nations were subjected to dictatorships; scarcely one decade later these regimes had given way to democratic openings. Even Paraguay’s General Stroessner –the continent’s longest lasting dictator— had been overthrown to give way to an elected government. The resurgence of democracy in South America in the last decade or so came as a surprise to many who saw the continent as producing conditions which favored only the exercise of tyranny. Still, as John Markoff (1997) wrote, South American democracy will indeed remain surprising to those who think of democracy as a single, fixed ideal which nations at one time or another more or less attain. If we ask questions about what kind of democracy has developed and in whose interests, about the constraints on democracy in the nation-state of transnational capitalism, then it may be possible to see that what it really amounts to is a periodic exercise of the vote. Perhaps the masses are permitted democracy only when the alternatives for the elite seem worse, or when prospects for change are remote. If so, then the possibility of a fuller democratic system seems grim indeed.
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), Oct 1, 2004
Most Argentine history considers the Left as relatively strange to popular tradition. However, Ar... more Most Argentine history considers the Left as relatively strange to popular tradition. However, Argentina has numerous examples of labor and rural struggles in small and middle provincial towns. This main idea that guides this paper is that there is a persistence of an underground leftist culture in Argentina that permeates society, including small townships. This culture expresses a form of consciousness that has permitted the survival of the organized Left in spite of repression, and which helps to explain the persistence and harshness of social conflict over the last fifty years. This research has selected three medium sized cities of Cordoba province, between 1918 and 1976, in order to trace social struggles and their relationship to different forms of the organized and cultural left.
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Papers by Pablo A Pozzi