Fujimori's Peru: Deception in the Public Sphere, and: Market Reform in Society: Post-Crisis Politics and Economic Change in Authoritarian Peru (review)

Now that the Alberto Fujimori presidency (1990–2000) is history, close observers of those tumultuous years can offer their considered assessments of a government that came to power in elections considered free and fair but progressively manipulated the democratic system toward authoritarianism while in office. Catherine Conaghan and Moisés Arce provide complementary interpretations of the Fujimori years that add much to our understanding of the political and economic complexities of the oncenio (11-year rule). While Conaghan concentrates on the political arena during this period, Arce is primarily concerned with the political economy of neoliberal reform.

Conaghan tells a story, which is often a challenge for political scientists, with our focus on frameworks and methodology. She tells it exceedingly well, with writing that is lucid, sharp, and perfectly crafted. And what a story it is, from Fujimori's improbable 1990 electoral victory over renowned novelist Mario Vargas Llosa to his ignominious 2000 flight from Peru as the authoritarian project masterminded by his intimate adviser, Vladimiro Montesinos, collapsed around him.

The narrative has a focusing framework, but one that, in its parsimonious presentation and consistent application as the details of this remarkable story are laid out, does not get in the way of the narrative. That framework is the concept of the public sphere, or the interrelationship between government and civil society, which is defined as "encompassing both the processes involved in political communication . . . and the sites where those processes take place" (p. 11). Conaghan's central concern is how the Fujimori regime managed progressively to limit democratic expression and practice in order to perpetuate itself in office through Machiavellian manipulation of the public sphere, pervasive corruption of both media and politicians, and outright intimidation.

Whereas a number of analysts of Peruvian politics have dated the government's commitment to remain in power from Fujimori's 1995 re-electoral victory, Conaghan presents convincing evidence that the authoritarian project began with the 1992 autogolpe and continued unabated right up to the regime's demise. Utilizing the public's pervasive dissatisfaction with the traditional political parties, which were blamed for producing the multiple crises Peru faced by the early 1990s, Fujimori and his key allies put together a political system "designed to look democratic but function otherwise. Allowing opponents to vent, but keeping them out of kilter and far removed from the institutional sources of power, was central to how the new political system worked" (p. 45).

At the core of Conaghan's analysis is her contention that the formally democratic provisions and institutions contained in the 1993 Constitution, narrowly approved by a national referendum, were consistently undermined by the political leadership's ability to staff them with sycophants. The capacity of a few political leaders to manipulate formally independent institutions increased markedly after President Fujimori's 1995 re-election, which also provided a narrow progovernment legislative majority. In a devastating blow-by-blow critique, Conaghan lays out the multiple initiatives that progressively served to give the executive virtually complete control over the political process as they simultaneously reduced the public sphere so as to dominate both political communication and its sites. Aided by the restoration of economic growth and a dramatic reduction in inflation, as well as by the government's defeat of the Shining Path guerrillas and the tolerance of the international community, including the United States, the authoritarian project moved forward with increasing momentum. Conaghan provides a gripping account, in all its gory detail, of how this happened and how there seemed to be no way to stop it.

Although belated protests from external and internal actors over the degree of manipulation of the 2000 elections and their aftermath tarnished Fujimori's...