Reinterpreting the Banana Republic: Region and State in Honduras, 1870-1972

by Darío A. Euraque

Overview

In this new analysis of Honduran social and political development, Dar degreeso Euraque explains why Honduras escaped the pattern of revolution and civil wars suffered by its neighbors Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. Within this comparative framework, he challenges the traditional Banana Republic 'theory' and its assumption that multinational corporations completely controlled state formation in Central America. Instead, he demonstrates how local society in Honduras's North Coast banana-exporting region influenced national political development. According to Euraque, the reformism of the 1970s, which prevented social and political polarization in the 1980s, originated in the local politics of San Pedro Sula and other cities along the North Coast. Moreover, Euraque shows that by the 1960s, the banana-growing areas had become bastions of liberalism, led by local capitalists and organized workers. This regional political culture directly influenced events at the national level, argues Euraque. Specifically, the military coup of 1972 drew its ideology and civilian leaders from the North Coast, and as a result, the new regime was able to successfully channel popular unrest into state-sponsored reform projects. Based on long-ignored sources in Honduran and American archives and on interviews, the book signals a major reinterpretation of modern Honduran history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807846049
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	01/20/1997
Edition description:	1
Pages:	270
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

Dario A. Euraque, a native of Honduras, is associate professor of history at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.

Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Abbreviations Used in the Text
Chapter 1. The Honduran Reforma: The State, Economic Structure, and Class Formation, 1870s-1940s
Chapter 2. San Pedro Sula's Capital and Labor: Structure and Organization, 1870s-1940s
Chapter 3. Honduran Politics and the Rise of the North Coast, 1876-1945
Chapter 4. Politics and the Modernization of the State and Military, 1945-1957
Chapter 5. New Industrialization and the Organization of Honduran Capitalists
Chapter 6. The Radical Liberalism of North Coast Labor, 1950s-1960s
Chapter 7. The Military Coup of 1963: Origins and Outcomes
Chapter 8. San Pedro Sula Capital and Labor Confront Caudillismo and Dictatorship, 1965-1968
Chapter 9. The North Coast and the Road to Military Reformism, 1969-1972
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Tables

1.1. Estimated Population of San Pedro Sula, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Mexico, and Central and South America, Selected Years, 1800-1950
1.2. Demographic Growth in Honduras, by Region and Department, Selected Years, 1801-1945
1.3. Demographic Growth on the North Coast, by Major Departments and Cities, Selected Years, 1901-1950
1.4. Regional Growth as a Percentage of Total Population, 1930, 1940, and 1950
1.5. Estimated Number of Workers in Major Export Industries and Factory Manufacturing in Urban Centers, Selected Decades, 1880s-1940s
1.6. Distribution of Professional and Artisan Classes, by Department, 1927-1928
1.7. Percentage of Honduras's Economically Active Population in the Secondary Sector, by Department, 1930, 1940, and 1950
2.1. Organizational Structure of Zemurray Enterprises after 1918
2.2. Estimated Population of Non-Central Americans in Honduras, Selected Years, 1887-1945
2.3. Percentage of Total Investment Value Registered in San Pedro Sula, by Economic Sector, 1905-1918
2.4. Percentage of Total Tax Assessment of Commercial and Industrial Enterprises in San Pedro Sula, 1918
2.5. Percentage of Total Tax Assessment of Commercial and Industrial Enterprises in San Pedro Sula, 1927 and 1935
2.6. Percentage of Total Tax Assessment of General Stores in San Pedro Sula, by Nationality or Ethnicity, 1927 and 1935
3.1. Results of Presidential Elections in Honduras, by Party, 1877-1948
4.1. Indicators of Economic Decline and Recovery in Honduras, 1929-1950
4.2. Banana Enterprises and Factory Employment, Selected Years, 1950-1970
6.1. Number of Unions Registered with the Ministry of Labor, 1956-1967
6.2. Number of Union Members in Central America, 1973

Maps

1. Honduras in Middle America
2. North Coast of Honduras, 1925
3. Department of Cortés, 1930

Figure

1. Evolution of Political Parties in Honduras, 1877-1948

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

A new interpretation of modern Honduran history. . . . Provocative.—American Historical Review



A major contribution to the national historiography of Honduras. The history of the region cannot be understood apart from its links to the rest of Honduras or the United States. Indeed, one of Euraques's greatest gifts is showing that the Caribbean coast, typically considered an enclave, had direct and influential ties to the rest of the country.—Latin American Research Review



A meaningful contribution to the literature on Honduras of interest to Central American specialists and to scholars studying questions of state building and economic development.—Choice



Reinterpreting the Banana Republic reexamines the development of Honduran government institutions from the vantage point of diverse regions within the country. Especially strong is the finely documented analysis of the North Coast. By showing how a local bourgeoisie, working class, and peasantry emerged in the pores of the banana economy, built their own local institutions in the process, and finally became national political forces after World War II, Euraque defeats on its own turf the Banana Republic thesis, which has been so prominent in Honduran historiography. This big interpretive work, rigorously constructed from a wide range of archival sources, is the long-awaited foundation history for Honduras. It will spawn more scholarly research on the country and will integrate Honduras more thoroughly into the debates on ethnicity, state formation, agrarian structures, and national ideology that have intensified in recent years.—Robert G. Williams, author of States and Social Evolution

Editorial Reviews

[Shows] that the Caribbean coast, typically considered an enclave, had direct and influential ties to the rest of the country.

"Latin American Research Review"

A meaningful contribution to the literature on Honduras.

"Choice"

Euraque defeats on its own turf the Banana Republic thesis, which has been so prominent in Honduran historiography.

Robert G. Williams, author of "States and Social Evolution"

ÝShows¨ that the Caribbean coast, typically considered an enclave, had direct and influential ties to the rest of the country.

"Latin American Research Review"

"[Shows] that the Caribbean coast, typically considered an enclave, had direct and influential ties to the rest of the country.

"Latin American Research Review""

"Euraque defeats on its own turf the Banana Republic thesis, which has been so prominent in Honduran historiography.

Robert G. Williams, author of "States and Social Evolution""

A new interpretation of modern Honduran history.

"American Historical Review"

From the Publisher