Tamara Feinstein investigates the bloody Shining Path conflict's effect on the legal Left in late-twentieth-century Peru, illustrating the catastrophic impact state and insurgent violence can have on the growth and resilience of democratic political actors during times of war. In this engaging historical study, Tamara Feinstein chronicles the late-twentieth-century Shining Path conflict and argues that it significantly contributed to the rupture and disintegration of the noninsurgent legal Left in Peru by deepening preexisting divisions and eradicating an entire generation of leaders. Using a combination of oral histories, archival documents, contemporary media accounts, and participant observation of commemorations, Feinstein maps the trajectory of the Peruvian Left's rise and fall by analyzing two emblematic human rights cases that occurred at the Left's zenith and nadir: the state-based violence of the 1986 Lima prison massacres and the 1992 Shining Path assassination of leftist shantytown leader Maria Elena Moyano. The lessons found in The Fate of Peruvian Democracy reach beyond Peru to connect with other Latin American countries. Peru's story illustrates the difficulties of accumulating political force during times of violence, underscores how struggles for self-defense can complicate ideological stances on violence, and helps explain the unevenness of the resurgence of the Left (the so-called "pink tide") in Latin America in the twenty-first century. The book contributes to debates on memory and human rights in Peru and Latin America where divisions over how to remember the war retraced the fault lines of earlier debates over democracy and violence.

Latin American opinion surveys consistently point to Peruvian citizens' deep distrust of their elected rulers and democratic institutions. The 2011 presidential and legislative elections in Peru, along with the regional and municipal polls of the previous year, showed once again the degree of political fragmentation in contemporary Peru and the weakness of its party system. Fractured Politics examines the history of political exclusion in Peru, the weakness of representative institutions, and the persistence of localized violent protest. It also evaluates the contribution of institutional reforms in bridging the gap between state and society, including Peru's Law on Political Parties, administrative decentralization, and the experience of the Defensoría, or ombudsman's office. The chapters, by leading scholars of Peruvian politics, emerge from a conference, held in 2009 in Saint Antony's College Oxford. Julio Cotler, from the Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (IEP), was the keynote speaker.

Under what conditions is democracy stable? What forces undermine or reinforce democratic institutions in Latin America? This book suggests answers to these questions in the context of Peru. It identifies the micro and macro causes that explain the gradual breakdown of democracy in the period between the 1980 transition from authoritarian rule and the 1992 suspension of the Constitution and closure of Congress by President Alberto Fujimori. Similar self-coups were subsequently threatened in Bolivia, unsuccessfully attempted in Guatemala and actively considered in Brazil.

Tamara Feinstein investigates the bloody Shining Path conflict’s effect on the legal Left in late-twentieth-century Peru, illustrating the catastrophic impact state and insurgent violence can have on the growth and resilience of democratic political actors during times of war. In this engaging historical study, Tamara Feinstein chronicles the late-twentieth-century Shining Path conflict and argues that it significantly contributed to the rupture and disintegration of the noninsurgent legal Left in Peru by deepening preexisting divisions and eradicating an entire generation of leaders. Using a combination of oral histories, archival documents, contemporary media accounts, and participant observation of commemorations, Feinstein maps the trajectory of the Peruvian Left’s rise and fall by analyzing two emblematic human rights cases that occurred at the Left’s zenith and nadir: the state-based violence of the 1986 Lima prison massacres and the 1992 Shining Path assassination of leftist shantytown leader María Elena Moyano. The lessons found in The Fate of Peruvian Democracy reach beyond Peru to connect with other Latin American countries. Peru’s story illustrates the difficulties of accumulating political force during times of violence, underscores how struggles for self-defense can complicate ideological stances on violence, and helps explain the unevenness of the resurgence of the Left (the so-called “pink tide”) in Latin America in the twenty-first century. The book contributes to debates on memory and human rights in Peru and Latin America where divisions over how to remember the war retraced the fault lines of earlier debates over democracy and violence.

As economic adviser and manager of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru, Pedro-Pablo Kuczynski observed at first hand the crisis that preceded the overthrow of the Belaúnde administration on October 3, 1968. His role in the economic policies of that era enables him to provide an insider's view and analysis of the financial and economic problems besetting a democratic regime in a developing country. The author pays particular attention to the reasons for the difficulties of the administration after a promising beginning. He considers the main actors during the period 1966-1968, their central motives, the role of the opposition-controlled Congress, the government's efforts to cope with economic and financial problems, and the role of U.S. foreign policy. The initial successes of the administration in areas such as social participation depended on the initiative of a few key figures—a dependence that contributed to the crisis of 1966-1968. Originally published in 1977. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The election of Fernando Belaunde as president of the republic in 1980 marked Peru's return to democracy after twelve years of military government. Since then, the country has had nine general elections and no military coups. Even so, there have been a number of episodes that have posed a serious risk to Peruvian democracy. In April 2021, Peruvians will face what is perhaps the most critical election of the last four decades. With the dual crises of public health and the economy unleashed by the Coronavirus pandemic, made even more acute by a third, political crisis forged within the country's own institutions, Peru now finds itself in an exceptionally precarious position as it celebrates the bicentennial anniversary of its existence as a republic. In Elections and deceptions: Peruvian democracy under construction, Alfredo Torres offers an overview of the last forty years of elections in Peru, along with a meticulous analysis of that other major actor in the political process: the electorate. Who are we as Peruvian voters and what are we like? Why do we vote? Do we do so with a sense of civic duty? What attracts us in a candidate? What kinds of ideas and prejudices influence our votes? These are just some of the questions that Torres poses in this book, making it an indispensable guide for those seeking to understand Peru's recent political history, while also offering a look at what the future may hold.