The Revolutionary Transformation of Nicaragua

Abstract

This is the third issue of Latin American Perspectives to focus on Nicaragua. As with the preceding two issues (in the spring of 1981 and the spring of 1985) the present issue offers our readers both an overview of the revolutionary process as well as analyses of specific conditions. The topics analyzed in this issue include: the revolutionary ideology of the Sandinistas; the political goals and demands of the indigenous communities in Nicaragua; the relationship between the Sandinista regime and the Miskito people; regional autonomy and national unity; the efforts of the revolutionary government to provide bilingual-bicultural forms of education to the Miskito and Creole peoples; the agrarianreform program; and the effects of the war upon the revolutionary process. In addition to the four substantive analyses presented in this issue, three book reviews are also included to provide our readers with a critical assessment of some of the more recent contributions to the expanding literature on contemporary conditions in Nicaragua. This introductory article provides a brief overview of present conditions in Nicaragua and relates the foci of the various articles in this issue to the larger context of the ongoing revolutionary process.