Country Report: Guatemala

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Recommended: Guatemala a narrative

Guatemala has experienced many significant changes to their government in the past sixty years. The government faced military coups, governmental reforms along with political and social revolutions. Many political forces have influenced Guatemala and transformed it into the country that it is today.
When a nation’s system is highly extractive, there are higher stakes to gain power. When there is a high desire for power, more coups are carried out and there are more shifts in the power of the government. A high percentage of the last 60 years of Guatemala’s history had been spent in an extractive system. Starting in the days that followed the reign of powerful dictator, Jorge Ubico,many transitional events took place that influenced the political development of Guatemala. Jorge Ubico ruled over Guatemala for more than 14 years. During his rule he kept Guatemala as a very extractive state. In Jorge’s absolutist society, he gave the resources, money and power to a small select group of people in order to maximize his power and influence. The wealthy elites had power over the rest of the people because they were militarily trained and had money. This extractive economy and government put Guatemala into an overall extractive system. Most of the wealth belonged to a small group while a majority of the citizens were poor peasant farmers with no political influence. The nation was stuck in a vicious circle that would be very challenging to get out of. The people revolted against the government due to them feeling that their human rights and deserved liberties were being violated. The dictator was assassinated and in 1951, Guatemala democratically elected a new ruler, a popular left sided member of the communist party, presid...

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.... Austin: University of Texas, 1998. Print.

Hamilton, Nora, Jeffry A. Frieden, Linda Fuller, and Manuel Pastor, Jr. Crisis in Central America: Regional Dynamics and U.S. Policy in the 1980s. Boulder: Westview, 1988. Print.

Handy, Jim. Revolution in the Countryside: Rural Conflict and Agrarian Reform in Guatemala, 1944-1954. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1994.

Marshall, Monty G. "Polity IV Project: Political Regime Characteristics and Transitions, 1800-2012." Center for Systemic Peace: Home Page. Societal-Systems Research Inc., 2011. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.

Pike, Fredrick B. The United States and Latin America Myths and Stereotypes of Civilization and Nature. Austin: University of Texas, 1992. Print.

Wainhouse, David Walter. "Situation in Guatemala, 1954." International Peace Observation. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Pr., 1966. 124-34. Print.

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