What Went Wrong? The Nicaraguan Revolution

When the Nicaraguan Revolution overthrew the Somoza Regime in 1979, it inspired radicals across the globe. And yet its promise and potential was extinguished by the early 1990s. This insightful and penetrating analysis traces the origins of this failure to politics of the Sandinistas, specifically their lack of rank-and-file democracy that left all power in the hands of Daniel Ortega.

Acronyms
Preface: A Marxist Analysis
Acknowledgements

Introduction: What Happened to the Nicaraguan Revolution?
1. Nicaragua: A Nation but Not a State (From the Beginning to 1893)
2. The Struggle to Construct a Sovereign State: Zelaya and Sandino (1893–1932)
3. The Somoza Dynastic Dictatorship (1932–61)
4. The Founding of the Sandinista Front for National Liberation (1962–78)
5. The Sandinistas Revolution (1979)
6. The Sandinistas in Power (1979–84)
7. The Sandinistas and the Contra War (1985–90)
8. Violeta Chamorro: A New Ruling Class, a New State, a New Economy (1990–6)
9. Alemán and Bolaños: Corruption in Power (1995–2006)
10. The Ortega Government (2006–)

Epilogue: Results and Prospects
Bibliography
Index