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VARIOUS EXPLICIT MARXIAN THEORIES ARE CURRENT ABOUT THE DIRECTION OF POLITICAL BEHAVIOR TO BE EXPECTED OF POOR PEASANTS IN THE THIRD WORLD. IN CHILE, IN 1970, PEASANTS DID GET A CHANCE TO VOTE A GOVERNMENT INTO POWER THAT HAD PROMISED TO TAKE THE COUNTRY ALONG THE ROAD TO SOCIALISM. USING UNITS AS THE MORE AGRARIAN MUNICIPALITIES OF CHILE, AN ECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS WAS CARRIED OUT. PEASANTS DID NOT VOTE AS A BLOC, BUT ACCORDING TO THEIR POSITION IN THE PRODUCTIVE PROCESS AS INDEPENDENT OWNERS, TENANTS, FIXED, OR TEMPORAL WAGE EARNERS. EACH OF THE 3 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES APPEARS TO HAVE FOUND A PARTICULAR STRUCTURAL NICHE IN THE CHILEAN COUNTRYSIDE. FOR ALLENDE, THIS NICHE IS CHARACTERIZED BY IRRIGATED PLANTATION TYPE AGRICULTURE, THAT MAKES USE OF TEMPORAL WAGE LABOR PROVIDED BY MINIFUNDIA. THE SYNDICAL POLICIES OF THE FREI GOVERNMENT MAY HAVE BENEFITED THE CANDIDATE OF THE GOVERNING PARTY, BUT NOT ITS LAND REFORM POLICY. 7 TABLES. HA.

Comparisons of East Asian and Latin American development frequently attribute the success of the former and the failure of the latter to differences in policies and institutions. Political Conflict and Development in East Asia and Latin America takes issue with such a view by subjecting the conventional policy and institutional attributes to vigorous case-to-case comparison across the two regions. The analysis in this book rests upon a chain of reasoning which starts with policy, argues back to the institutions that shape policy, and then to the forces that fashion the institutions. This last link in the chain is conspicuously absent in the literature but is critical to our understanding. The book shows how the range of institutions associated with development in East Asia and Latin America are deeply rooted in particular economic political and social settings that govern how they work. The book directly challenges the dominant view that development can be reduced to a formula or a set ofinstitutions that can be copied by other countries to guarantee successful development. Its emphasis upon institutional fashioning will be a distinctive contribution to development studies.