Latin American nationbuilding
*note- gov is used as an abbreviation of the word government
Some european sates were able to transform themselves into nations through the setup of systems like police and army that would protect them from outsiders and also from internal revolutions
They also developed economic institutions that would create the revenue to pay for these things
This is where war came in
Civil war is obviously not good for the state
A lot of the countries were of the belief that war builds nations
European wars were often about control of territory
Rulers needed armies for this
This was the first level of large scale organization
Armies need additional organizations that collect taxes
States with large armies tuned to a Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy: a system of government in which most of the important decisions are made by state officials rather than by elected representatives.
By 1950
A lot of latin american states were built by military regimes
Some have hypothesized that this was due to the absence of international wars
Military strongmen who used their armies to create strong states that oppressed the people
International wars in europe forced states to organize
Any international war in Latin america was very short lied
They did not get the same opportunities to organize, with armies and bureaucracies and the democratic processes
It is often argued that the existence of these miliatry regimes proves the weakness of the state
Latin american sates often lacked the capacity to raise ;large numbers of troops, as well as the taxes to pay for them
Their armies could not fight long drawn out international wars
Geography also paled a big part
The borders of many counties were inhabitable
Less opportunity as less reason for conflict with external forces
There were a lot of civil wars
When latin american states finally got a chance to mobilize their armies, it was usually to fight against their own citizens
The enemies were not other nations but "those who threatened the social and economic status quo"
Often these enemies were indigenous people, or communists
The process of was building states doesn’t work unless there was some kind of institutional foundation to build on
A lot of latin american nations did not have this
Colonization , mostly by spain was designed to make sure that the natives could not put those institutions into place in their homelands
Another reason why the setup of these institutions was difficult was because Lot of wars for independence were highly destructive to the region
The small scale wars after independence did not require states to develop a tax collection apparatus , which would have allowed them to develop financial structured
This is because they had a steady source of revenue, from the export of commodity, they did not need to rely on taxes to fund these small wars
Loans were also used to pay for small war
Foreign powers were keen to interfere in latin american affairs ex CIA
Foreign powers also found interest in the prospect of extracting resources from latin america and keeping the profits in order to pay of these loans
They never really needed to tax their populations - not a good thing
Without taxes, the state never had to bargain with citizens, citizens did not have any bargaining power over the state , the state was not reliant on them
There were no significant positive bonds formed between the population and the government, that usually would be formed through the relationship of citizens requesting something and the gov meeting those demands
When a gov doesn't need money from citizens in order to function, the importance of listening to them isn't as stressed
International wars are good for developing nationalism
This was good for building states
Ex 19th century germany
Latin american sates were not as nationalist as their european counterparts
Latin America's legacy of both racial and class division
Rigid hierarchy
Spanish born Penninisulares at the top
Indigenous people and slaves at the bottom
Creoles and mestizos in the middle
When latin american countries gained independence, these hierarchies became a source of insecurity
Source of anxiety for the new ruling class of creoles
The spanish were gone, now the creoles rule
Class and racial distinction was intertwined
The ruling class feared losing power to the lower classes
These divisions prevented the army from bringing people together
In other countries, the army is the first place where people with different backgrounds, and from different regions could come together as one, promoting a sense of unity within the nation
No opportunity for social classes to mingle
Latin american armies were small
Social hierarches remained within them
Absence of an external enemy also caused a lull in nationalism
There was no sense of other that could be used to build up nationalism
Latin american countries were often unstable and violent, compered to european counterparts
This is likely due to the fact that european states were much richer
The european states were much richer due to systems of colonization
European sates began their nationbuilding by extracting lots of value from latin american sates as well as african states
Latin american states first had to fight brutal wars for their freedom , then try to patch up the damages