Description
Mahoney presents a bold and multilayered argument that links developments across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, supported through a systematic comparative analysis of all five Central American countries. The Legacies of Liberalism is the most important book on Central America written in the last ten years, an ambitious and important work that will have a significant impact on debates in a number of fields. -- Gerardo Munck, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, author of Authoritarianism and Democratization: Soldiers and Workers in Argentina, 1976-1983
About the Author
James Mahoney is an assistant professor of sociology at Brown University.
Reviews
Few scholars are bold enough to try to explain 150 years of political development in five different countries, and even fewer succeed at such an ambitious undertaking. James Mahoney admirably pulls off such a feat in his masterful study of post independence political evolution in Central America... His work is to be commended not only as a seminal study of Central American politics, but also as a major contribution to scholarly understanding of critical junctures and path-dependent political development. -- Kenneth M. Roberts Perspectives on Politics A clearly written and insightful monograph, sociologists interested in comparative history will find this a rewarding read... Legacies of Liberalism makes an important contribution to the literature on national development, Latin American political economy, and comparative historical theory. -- William Canak Social Forces 2003 [Mahoney's] comparative historical analysis of political development in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua makes a number of significant contributions. His systematic cross-case comparison is impressive in its breadth. -- Juliet Hooker Governance 2004 A provocative work of historical sociology... Mahoney's book is built around a bold thesis about nineteenth-century economic liberalism as the region's 'critical [historical] juncture.' -- Paul Gootenberg Latin American Research Review 2004
Awards
Winner of American Sociological Association Comparative & Historical Sociology Section Barrington Moore Award 2004 (United States) and Best Book Award in the Comparative Democratization Section 2004 (United States).
Book Information
ISBN 9780801871054
Author James Mahoney
Format Paperback
Page Count 416
Imprint Johns Hopkins University Press
Publisher Johns Hopkins University Press
Weight(grams) 612g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 22mm