Neoliberalism in a new democracy: elite politics and state reform in Nicaragua.

The first section of this article reviews some theoretical literature on elite roles in democratic consolidation after transition from authoritarian rule characterized by abrupt but relatively peaceful regime change. Of particular interest are elite responses to new democratic rules that favor pluralist politics and neoliberal economics. The second section emphasizes the importance of the Chamorro governments effort to establish the parameters of fundamental state reform. The zeal with which some elites pursued this vital issue weakened the cohesion of the UNO legislative majority. The third section examines how state bureaucrats and an array of economic groups carried out the privatization of public enterprises and attempted to settle related disputes over property rights. The fourth section focuses on the linkages between state reform electoral competition and better socioeconomic conditions. The desperate situation of the working classes facilitated changes in the distribution and exercise of national power in favor of several political challengers of the Chamorro regime. Elite struggles over constitutional reforms and electoral advantage slowed the process of democratic consolidation amid painful economic adjustment. The last section offers a comparative historical perspective on the pivotal but ephemeral period of remarkable collective action against the Somoza dictatorship in the late 1970s. At that time elite-mass cooperation facilitated a multiclass coalition that led to immediate revolutionary change but disintegrated before a democratic outcome could be realized. This consideration brings into full relief how the dynamics of elite interaction influence the prospects for a broad-based compromise to govern the market to strengthen the participatory role of civil society and to address social exigencies after structural adjustment. (excerpt)