Between Revolution and the Ballot Box
The Origins of the Argentine Radical Party in the 1890s

This is a comprehensive study of the formative years of the Argentine Radical Party.

Paula Alonso (Author)

9780521027250, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 22 June 2006

260 pages, 3 b/w illus. 7 tables
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.395 kg

'Paula Alonso's book is … a most timely contribution that comes to fill that void … she has produced an original and persuasive book on one of the key periods in Argentine political history … the book provides the reader with a compelling history and a renewed awareness of the complex consequences of contact.' Journal of Latin American Studies

Founded in 1891, the Unión Cívica Radical, generally known as the Radical Party, is the oldest national political party in Argentina. As a central component of Argentina's political history, the Radical Party has received much attention from historians. However, most accounts have concentrated on the period after 1916, when the party won its first presidential election; the formative years of the party have generally been ignored. Yet as the strongest opposition party during the 1890s, a pivotal decade in the birth of Argentina's party system, the Radical Party effected a critical development in Argentine politics: it created a system of open confrontation and political competition. This study offers not merely a revised version of the party's story but also a new perspective on the nature of the Radical Party and of the politics of the nation as a whole.

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The political arena
2. Mounting an opposition
3. The short-lived Unión Cívica
4. The radicals in action: part I
5. The radicals in action: part II
6. The decline of the Radical Party
Conclusion
Appendices
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: History of the Americas [HBJK]