Pluralism and vanguardism in the Nicaraguan revolution

In: Latin American perspectives: a journal on capitalism and socialism, Band 17, Heft 3, S. 38-54

Abstract

One of the major principles of the Nicaraguan constitution is that the state guarantees the existence of political pluralism (Article 5). One clear aspect of such pluralism is the maintenance of a multiparty system. Yet it is also clear that the FSLN as the vanguard party sees its function as guiding the revolution. In this article, the author's concern is to show that the concepts of pluralism and of the vanguard have been synthesized in Nicaraguan theory and practice in a manner that does violence to neither of them