1. DYNAMICS OF POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION

2. TYPES OF POLITICAL REGIME
Democracy
Oligarchic
Co-optative
Liberal (elections with citizen rights)
Illiberal (elections w/o citizen rights)
Authoritarianism
Traditional (“man on horseback”)
One-party rule
Bureaucratic (B-A regimes)
Revolutionary

3. CHANGE OVER TIME Oligarchic Rule and Top-down Reform (1880s-1920s)
Military strongmen
“Oligarchic democracy”
Co-optative democracy
Populism and Dictatorship (1930s-1970s)
Populist alliances/corporatist states
Women and politics
A democratic surge [1940s-70s]
Bureaucratic-authoritarian regimes

4. CHANGE OVER TIME [cont.]
The Revolutionary Path (1950s-1980s)
“plantation societies”
Cuba, Nicaragua—and others?
A Renewal of Democracies (1980s-present)
“unsolvable problems”
pressure from below
ending of Cold War
absence of ideology
Rise of the “new left”? (1998-present)
Politics of protest/use of ballot box
Chávez v. Lula
prospects?

5. SOCIAL STRUCTURE Upper Class: Urban (industrialists, bankers)
Rural (landowners)
Middle Class:
Urban (merchants, lawyers, etc.)
Rural (small farmers)
Popular/Lower Class:
Urban (workers)
Rural (peasants, campesinos)
National Institutions:
State (including military)
Church
External Sector:
Economic (investors, merchants)
Political (foreign governments)

6. KEY QUESTIONS What social groups are present? Or missing?
What kinds of coalitions are in play? On what basis?
What are the lines of social conflict? Vertical or horizontal? Social class or race/ethnicity?
Who has political power? How inclusive is the system? Who is denied access?

7. COMPARING CASES Mexico: Revolution of 1910 + dominant-party system
Central America and Caribbean: plantation society, U.S. influence, dictatorship and protest
Cuba: plantation society, socialist revolution, resistance to United States
Question A: Compare Mexican and Cuban revolutions
Question B: Trace colonial legacies in Mexico and Cuba
Question C (for later reference): Why not more revolutionary ferment in CA + Caribbean? Given strong resemblance to Cuba?

8. COMPARING REVOLUTIONS
Mexico (pre-1910)
Alliance: landowners + foreigners + state = “integrating dictatorship” of Porfirio Díaz ( )
Peasants > working class
Weak middle class
Mexico (post-1930s)
Alliance: workers + peasants + state = populist authoritarian regime
Demise of landowning class
Inclusion of industrialists + foreign + state = pro-developmental policies
Electoral democracy (2000-present)

9. COMPARING REVOLUTIONS
Cuba (pre-1959)
Plantation society = Alliance: state + foreign + landowners = personalistic dictatorship tied to U.S. interests
Need for seasonal rural labor
Workers and peasants linked but excluded from politics, thus revolutionary “mentality”
Military corrupt, weak
Cuba (post-1959)
Revolutionary state in command of workers, peasants, urban and rural middle classes
Strong military and autonomous state apparatus
Dependence on foreign protector (USSR)