Church-State Ties, Roman Catholic Episcopacies, and Human Rights in Latin America Nicholas Rowell
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Political Science ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations 8-28-2012 Church-State Ties, Roman Catholic Episcopacies, and Human Rights in Latin America Nicholas Rowell Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/pols_etds Recommended Citation Rowell, Nicholas. "Church-State Ties, Roman Catholic Episcopacies, and Human Rights in Latin America." (2012). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/pols_etds/6 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Political Science ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Nicholas Rowell Candidate Political Science Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Mark Peceny , Chairperson Benjamin Goldfrank William Stanley Richard Wood i CHURCH-STATE TIES, ROMAN CATHOLIC EPISCOPACIES AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN LATIN AMERICA by NICHOLAS ROWELL B.A. Political Science & Latin American Studies, University of Arkansas, 2004 M.A. Political Science, University of New Mexico, 2006 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Political Science The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico July, 2012 ii DEDICATION To Robin iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people provided invaluable personal, professional and intellectual support as I completed this dissertation, and it is my pleasure to thank them. First, I wish to acknowledge the patience, hard work, and generosity of my Co-Chairs, Benjamin Goldfrank and Mark Peceny. This dissertation grew out of a project Professor Goldfrank graciously invited me to join while I was his GA at UNM. From the beginning of my graduate study to the completion of this manuscript, Professor Goldfrank and Professor Peceny provided me with invaluable support, guidance, and encouragement. I also wish to thank William Stanley and Richard Wood who also served on my dissertation committee. Both provided tremendous insight and encouragement from very early stages of this project through its completion. I also wish to thank the Department of Political Science at the University of New Mexico for providing me with a generous assistantship during my time in Albuquerque, and briefly, while I was away from campus. I also wish to thank Ron Faulk, Janet Sheeran, and Dany Doughan of St. Gregory's University for consenting to a teaching load reduction during the final stages of this project. Many others provided support in various stages of work on this project. Harry Moore, Fr. Robert Busch, Martin Edwin Anderson, Carlos Costa and several anonymous reviewers provided insightful feedback on various portions of this study. Erika Murcia provided expert and efficient research assistance during my time in El Salvador. With kindness and professionalism, Shoshana Handel and Joann Buehler helped me navigate the bureaucracy of completing a degree. Several others encouraged me in the pursuit of this project at critical moments, especially Professors Charles Kenney, Daniel Philpott, iv John Anderson, and Sr. Marcianne Kappes. Early in my study, I benefitted from the mentorship of Jeff Ryan and Steve Striffler. I would also like to thank Prakash Adhikari and Meg Edwards; their friendship and camaraderie were among the most rewarding aspects of my graduate study. I also benefitted enormously from the friendship of Brian Risch, who pushed me to the end. My family provided encouragement and inspiration throughout this project; thank you Charles and Jan Rowell and Jennifer, Michael, Rachel and William Taunton. Finally, for her sacrifice, patience, and unwavering support, I wish to thank my wife, Robin Guthrie, a partner who challenges my thinking, refines my ideas, and remains with me, steadfastly, through thick and thin. v CHURCH-STATE TIES, ROMAN CATHOLIC EPISCOPACIES AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN LATIN AMERICA By Nicholas Rowell B.A. Political Science & Latin American Studies, University of Arkansas, 2004 M.A. Political Science, University of New Mexico, 2006 Ph.D. Political Science, University of New Mexico, 2012 ABSTRACT From the 1960s through the 1980s, Latin America's Catholic bishops' conferences diverged in their responses to state sanctioned human rights abuse. At the national level, some bishops' conferences played leadership roles in nascent human rights movements, others delayed public criticism while pursuing private human rights advocacy, and still others responded with silence or public support for repressive governments. Why? To answer this question, this study presents comparative case studies of the Catholic Church in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil with secondary comparative case studies of Colombia, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Drawing on the theoretical perspective of path dependence, I argue that varied patterns of Church-state interaction arose, in large measure, due to varied configurations in the institutional ties linking Church and state. Where ties are dense, the Church derives its interest in conjunction with the state, relies on the state to pursue those interests, and works to ensure a close and generally collaborative relationship with successive governments via generally non-contentious political vi behavior. Where ties are sparse, the Church derives its interest from other sources (the political ideology of bishops, the Vatican, the experience of clergy and/or adherents, etc.) and must rely on sources other than the state to pursue those interests. The result is the evolution of a Church that faces fewer obstacles discouraging confrontation when faced with state practices or policies that it opposes. Where ties are of intermediate density, the Church derives its interest from non-state sources (such as the Vatican), but often relies on state assistance or state approval to organize and pursue those interests. As a result, engaging in contentious interaction with the state can be discouraged by the state's leverage over some Church programs. In this situation, pursuing confrontation with the state necessitates difficult cost-benefit analysis for an episcopal conference. The resolution of intra-episcopal conflict prompts delays in decisive responses. vii Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction………………………………………………………….. 1 Chapter 2: Church-State Ties and Human Rights Advocacy…………………. 13 Chapter 3: The Changing Church and the Rise of Bureaucratic Authoritarianism………………………………………………………………….. 52 Chapter 4: Antecedent Conditions and Critical Junctures in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil…………………………………………………………………... 90 Chapter 5: Mechanisms of Reproduction in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil…… 136 Chapter 6: Catholic Bishops' Responses to Human Rights Abuses in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil……………………………………………………... 194 Chapter 7: Path Dependence and Episcopal Responses to Human Rights Abuse during Civil Wars…………………………………………………………. 235 Chapter 8: Path Dependence and Catholic Responses to Human Rights Abuse in Latin America…………………………………………………………… 283 References………………………………………………………………………….. 300 viii Chapter 1: Introduction After Vatican II, Catholic bishops were explicitly charged with two principal tasks: providing prophetic socioethical guidance to society and serving as organizational managers of Catholic dioceses or other ecclesiastical jurisdictions. Attempting to accomplish both of these tasks successfully created a set of ongoing challenges. Inevitably, bishops must, at least in practice, prioritize some values, goals, or issues over others. More difficult still, situations often arise in which the demands of consistent prophetic leadership and skilled organizational management come into conflict. When vigorous defense of some values place essential Church programs at risk or clergy and followers in danger, which task takes precedence? The resolution of such conflicts is no doubt important for the entire international Church. However, during the late 20th century, Latin America witnessed one of the most dramatic and politically significant examples of such a conflict in recent history. In the wake of the breakdown of democracy that swept through much of Latin America in the decade after 1964, the region suffered through waves of egregious human rights abuses. In the name of halting the spread of communism, authoritarian regimes made widespread use of torture, kidnapping, and murder against suspected 'subversives' while closing down democratic institutions and censoring the press. If subsequent civil wars are included, the total number of victims reaches well into the hundreds of thousands. As these waves of human rights abuses transpired, Latin America's bishops had the opportunity to respond in politically important ways. Focusing on the political 1 responses of bishops, as opposed to other actors or levels of organization in the Catholic Church, is a deliberate and important empirical decision. Bishops held administrative authority over some of the better-developed, if under-resourced, domestic organizational networks in Latin America, regardless of country. Support from pre-existing organizational networks profoundly affected the development of domestic human rights movements, especially the emergence of their earliest participants.1 Bishops' substantial discretion over the use of Church resources, the assignments of Church personnel, the Church's social priorities, and the flow of information