Revolutions and Revolutionary Ideologies in Latin America

Abstract

One of the central conceits of contemporary culture is the notion that Latin America as a continent hovers continually on the verge of revolutionary transformation. This reflects the capacity of a few events, rather than the facts on the ground, to capture the imagination of foreign publics—that, and the unusually influential role that Latin American intellectuals have played in shaping foreign perception of their societies. In fact, the Latin American republics have proven for the most part to be surprisingly resistant to any fundamental change in their social hierarchies and values ever since their emergence to independence in the early nineteenth century.