El Salvador: State-building before and after democratisation, 1980 – 95

Abstract

In 1980 the USA began a prolonged effort to reshape state institutions in El Salvador. The USA sought to promote effective counter-insurgency by the Salvadoran armed forces, while shaping a political order that would have greater domestic and international legitimacy. US efforts to shape the Salvadoran military met with limited success in the face of obstruction by Salvadoran military leaders. Judicial and police reform efforts were similarly ineffective. However, US efforts to shape the civilian political arena led to an established norm of elected civilian rule, and a process of conservative civilian party formation that ultimately helped to lay the foundations for demilitarisation and settlement of the civil war. Institutional reforms that eluded the USA proceeded rapidly during implementation of the 1992 peace settlement, reflecting the realignment of domestic political power, the normative influence of the UN and the much-diminished political power of the armed forces.