This is an insightful account of Colombian political history from Conservative victory in 1886 to the 1953 military coup that brought a temporary respite from civil war and violence. Throughout, the author stresses patterns of social, ideological, and political control, and notes their changing configurations over time. Major trends include the relative decline of the church; growth in the scale and role of the national state; and a steady, accelerating increase in the power of centralized military and police forces, spurred above all by the violence endemic in Colombia since the late 1940s.
In the first half of the book (chapters 1-4), Abel explores the origins and nature of Conservative rule between 1886 and 1930, noting its predilection for a weak central state, and its characteristic reliance on social hierarchy and alliances with the church to ensure continued domination. The decay of this system in the late 1920s, the resurgence of liberalism, and Conservative restoration under Ospina and Gómez are then examined, with special concern for the shifting balance of ideological conflict, the new role of the press, and the changing character of leadership and organization. The next four chapters move from chronology to detailed reviews of church and politics (5), military and police (6), politics, labor, and capital (7), and church, politics, and parties in the provinces (8). A brief concluding chapter outlines major developments from that point to the mid-1980s. The text has been translated into a lively and readable Spanish from the author’s doctoral thesis. Notes and references could be updated to take account of recent work.
Abel’s work is a useful contribution to analysis of Colombia, and more generally to understanding how patterns of domination become established and change over time. As the author shows, Colombia’s aristocratic elites feared both popular uprisings and military pretensions, and thus preferred to ground their hegemony in ideological and cultural control (through ties with the church) reinforced by social hierarchy and party links. The military, the police, and the entire central state apparatus remained weak until midcentury. This pattern began to decay in the interwar period, and finally collapsed in the massive violence that followed the 9 de abril. To be sure, Colombian politics are still marked by violence and elite control, but each has changed character decisively, and successive efforts to reconstruct the hegemony of earlier times have failed. This book helps to understand the process.
