Complete Thesis_double spaced abstract.pdf

Instances of economic development policies matching the framework are found in the
following administrations and initiated in the following years: Arbenz in 1950, Armas in 1954,
Arana in 1971, Lucas in 1978, Cerezo 1986. In the case of the Armas and Arana administrations
the effect of their policies continued long after they held office, as previously explained their
successors changed little about economic development policy of the previous administration.
President Arbenz instituted an economic development policy which fit within the
framework, yet from 1950-1954 state sponsored violence was low. The violence that did occur
during the Arbenz administration was not state sponsored, rather it was elite driven. However,
economic development and low violence can be explained by the framework, the contribution
from the Hamilton and Chinchilla (1991) framework maintains that states can either soothe or
aggravate changes to social or economic structures; Arbenz’s administration instituted policies
which soothed the economic development and resulted in low violence. President Armas also
instituted new economic development policies which fit the description of the framework and
from 1954 to 1956 there was a dramatic increase in the amount of state sponsored violence. The
predicted pattern was clear during this time period; the state was the perpetrator and the violence
occurs following the implementation of a significant change in economic development policy.
Although the pattern emerges it was less clear that the state sponsored violence is exclusively tied
to the implementation of the economic development policy. Under President Armas the state
targeted labor groups and leaders, community organizers, students, professors, and peasants; it
was unclear that the destruction of each of these groups was tied solely to the implementation of
economic development policies, there appeared to be clear political considerations as well.
President Arana’s institution of economic development policies in 1971 were also accompanied
by a corresponding increase in state sponsored political violence; this too fits the pattern predicted
by the framework. During President Arana’s administration it was clearer that the victims of state
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