States and Social Evolution: Coffee and the Rise of National Governments in Central America

States and Social Evolution: Coffee and the Rise of National Governments in Central America by Williams, Robert G.. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780807844632.

The national governments of Central America were constructed between 1840 and 1900, a time when coffee was transformed from a botanical curiosity to the regions most important export. In spite of their geographic proximity, the national governments that emerged were strikingly different, from Costa Ricas participatory democracy to Guatemalas military despotism. Robert Williams explores Central Americas political diversity by following the story of coffee through the nation-building period. With a sensitivity to cultures and institutions before the advent of widespread coffee cultivation, he reveals the various ways that land, labor, and capital were harnessed as coffee advanced from one locale to the next, provoking cultural clashes and sometimes violent reactions as it altered landscapes, peoples lives, and even governments. Through careful scrutiny of a tiny region and a single crop in a restless age, States and Social Evolution develops a theory of state formation relevant to other places and times as well.