Complete Thesis_double spaced abstract.pdf

Dependent Variable: Intra and Interstate Migration
The end point for the framework being examined is increases and decreases to total
migration. As discussed in the previous section, the framework offers two outcomes for the
proposed pattern between economic development policies, state sponsored violence, and
migration. The first pattern is that economic development proceeds and necessitates state
sponsored violence, which in turn leads to an increase in total migration. The second pattern is
that economic development is initiated, outcomes are managed by the state, and migration does
not increase. The examination of migration in Guatemala 1950-1995 is presented chronologically
in the following sections. An examination of the three frameworks follows immediately after the
description of migration.
There were few states in the world monitoring and maintaining detailed, well-defined,
disaggregated interstate and intrastate migration data during the 1950s. As explained in the
methodology section, the migration record for Guatemala is at many times incomplete, poorly
classified, and presented as aggregated data. Nonetheless there is a portion of data that can be
gleaned from the Guatemalan literature on Mayas, agriculture, demographics and economics. In
any particular year seasonal intrastate migration, intrastate migration, interstate migration,
refugee, asylum, or internally displaced persons data is more readily available than in other years.
During the 1950s approximately 99,000 Guatemalans migrated seasonally for intrastate
employment. By 1960 the number of migrants had risen to 152,000 (Smith, 1978, 590).
Factoring in the growth in the total population during this same time period approximately 3.27%
of the population was migrating for seasonal employment in 1950 and 3.83% in 1960; resulting in
a 14% increase for 1950-1960. The 1960s and early 1970s show similar patterns of seasonal
intrastate migration. General Arana led attempts to diversify agricultural exports with the
introduction of cotton, a highly labor intensive agricultural crop. Cotton crops did not grow
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