NICARAGUAN SANDINISMO, BACK FROM THE DEAD? An anthropological study of popular participation within the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional by Johannes Wilm Submitted to be examined as part of a PhD degree for the Anthropology Department, 1 Goldsmiths College, University of London 2 Nicaraguan Sandinismo, back from the Dead? An anthropological study of popular participation within the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional I declare that this thesis is entirely my own work and that the thesis presented is the one upon which I expect to be examined. The copyright holders of the included photos/pictures are mentioned in the caption. Usage rights for purposes that go beyond the reproduction of this book either in its entirety or of entire chapters, must be obtained individually from the mentioned copyright holders. When no copyright holder is mentioned in the caption, I was the photographer. The photos taken by me can be used for other purposes without prior consent, as long as the photographer is mentioned in all forms of publication where the photos appear. Johannes Wilm 3 Abstract Thirty years after redefining the political landscape of Nicaragua, Sandinismo is both a unifying discourse and one driven by different interpretations by adherents. This thesis examines the complex legacy of Sandinismo by focusing on the still widely acclaimed notion of Sandinismo as an idiom of popular participation. A central point is the current unity of the movement, as it is perceived by Sandinistas, depends on a limited number of common reference points over the last 100 years of Nicaraguan history, which are interpreted very differently Sandinistas and other groups, but which always emphasise the part Nicaraguans play in international relations and the overall importance of popular mass participation in Nicaraguan politics, rather than agreement on current, day-to-day politics. Through my analysis, this thesis questions the view often expressed in anthropological studies and the mainstream press on the development of the Sandinista movement since the 1980s as being one of decay. Based on 18 months of fieldwork in Nicaragua in 2008/09 among mainly urban Sandinistas and some non-Sandinistas in the cities on the Pacific coast, involving formal and informal interviews, the thesis concludes that Sandinismo continues to involve grassroot elements of popular participation and that Nicaragua interpretations of history across ideological groups have in common that the actions of individual Nicaraguans are seen as shaping historical changes, which in turn validates and lends importance to such grassroots elements. 4 Table of Contents Abstract.................................................................................................................................................3 Acknowledgments.................................................................................................................................9 Chapter 1 Introduction.........................................................................................................................................11 Historical background.....................................................................................................................12 The theme of the investigation.......................................................................................................14 My ethnographic fieldwork........................................................................................................16 Chapter overview............................................................................................................................18 Chapters 1-3: Introduction, Methodology and Literature Review.............................................18 Chapter 4: Development theories...............................................................................................18 Chapter 5: Recent political history of Nicaragua and the Sandinista movement......................19 Chapter 6: Economic history of Nicaragua................................................................................19 Chapter 7: The politics of history..............................................................................................19 Chapter 8: Perceptions and expectations of economic development.........................................20 Chapter 9: The forming of the politics under the FSLN............................................................21 Chapter 10: Ways for Sandinistas to involve themselves in politics.........................................22 Chapter 11: Historic relations to Eastern Europe.......................................................................22 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................23 Chapter 2 Methodology.......................................................................................................................................24 Participant observation...................................................................................................................24 Formal interviews...........................................................................................................................26 Archival research............................................................................................................................27 Ethical concerns..............................................................................................................................28 Where I stayed................................................................................................................................32 My background and points of influence on my fieldwork.............................................................33 My initial blunders..........................................................................................................................39 Representativeness of groups.........................................................................................................41 Chapter 3 Literature Review................................................................................................................................43 Historical studies on Nicaraguan politics and ideologies...............................................................43 Studies of Nicaraguan democracy..................................................................................................46 Revolution studies..........................................................................................................................48 Post-Sandinista studies...................................................................................................................51 Relevance of studies done in the time of previous governments under current circumstances.58 Sandinista II studies........................................................................................................................60 Studies of similar phenomenon in other parts of Latin America....................................................63 Memory in anthropological discourse............................................................................................66 What makes sense for Nicaragua?.............................................................................................67 Dependency Theory in the literature on Nicaragua........................................................................69 Theories/frameworks that were not used in this thesis...................................................................70 Chapter 4 Development theories..........................................................................................................................80 5 Mainstream modernisation development theories..........................................................................80 Neoliberalism.............................................................................................................................83 Counter-hegemonic development theories.....................................................................................84 Socialist versions of modernisation theory................................................................................85 Dependency Theory...................................................................................................................87 Radical Dependency Theory......................................................................................................88 Chapter 5 Recent political history of Nicaragua and the Sandinista movement..................................................91 Before 1920....................................................................................................................................94 Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino................................................................................................95 Somoza...........................................................................................................................................96 The organisation of resistance against Somoza..............................................................................97 The FSLN divided into three tendencies...............................................................................98 The Sandinista years 1979–90......................................................................................................102 Foreign Involvement................................................................................................................102