Complete Thesis_double spaced abstract.pdf

The Framework: Initiating Economic Development and Structural Changes
The framework developed out of the literature review and applied to the Guatemalan case
study should show across each of the six periods a propensity for economic development policies
to (1) show a movement from subsistence production to export production, (2) modernization of
agriculture, (3) diversification of agricultural exports, and (4) implementation of neoliberal
economic development policies (see table 6.2 for a summary).
In the first period, between 1950 and 1954 the Arbenz administration continued to
implement the economic development plans first put into operation by President Arévalo. The
most significant economic development policy was reform of the land tenure in Guatemala, a
move to increase production off of unused land, increasing food production for domestic and
foreign markets. Policies also included: modernizing infrastructure for industry and agriculture,
attempts to diversify agriculture, increasing the rights of workers to organize and strike. The
Arbenz administration fits the framework, since Arbenz did attempt to increase for export,
modernize agriculture, and diversify Guatemala’s agricultural exports. The second period,
consisting of Colonel Armas, General Ydígoras, and General Peralta also fits the framework.
Colonel Armas was responsible for the most radical changes to economic development policy
while General Ydígoras and General Peralta maintained policies set in motion by Colonel Armas.
His economic development policies included subsidizing the large agricultural exporters,
introducing new agricultural export crops and developing the Petén region. Structural changes
included abolishing the land reform efforts, expropriating new lands and restricting rights to
organize and strike. The framework also correctly predicts and explains economic development
during the third period, given that there is a slight overlap between economic policies between the
second and third periods this is unsurprising. In the third period, under General Arana and
General Laugerud, there was increased support given to the diversification of agriculture for
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