The Legacies of Liberalism: Path Dependence and Political Regimes in Central America (review)

The Legacies of Liberalism develops a well-specified theoretical model, and then applies it through secondary analysis to explain variations in patterns of national political development. As with the work of Jeffery Paige (Agrarian Revolution: Social Movements and Export Agriculture in the Underdeveloped World, Free Press, 1975) and Maurice Zeitlin and Richard Ratcliff (Landlords and Capitalists: The Dominant Class of Chile, Princeton University Press, 1988), whose theory-building projects were met by historians' negative reactions, I anticipate more kvetching over Mahoney's book. Although grounded on a recent major reassessment of nineteenth century Central America, Mahoney synthesizes this revisionist history with that of traditional historians' assertion that the nineteenth century marked a revolutionary break from colonial to liberal societal structures. Thus he not only has the temerity to exploit their fieldwork for an armchair reassessment of Central American history, but he finds merit in and resuscitates the old guard.

Setting aside historians' sensibilities, The Legacies of Liberalism makes an important contribution to neo-Weberian theory construction and research. Mahoney's explanation of a path-dependent theoretical approach will, at a minimum, be extracted for reading in many theory courses, but one hopes students will read the whole book, even if their substantive interests fail to embrace Latin American history and political development. A clearly written and insightful monograph, sociologists interested in comparative history will find this a rewarding read. His first chapter literature review, however, would be stronger and more obvious in its implications for non-Latin Americanist scholars were Mahoney to have examined the irrelevant work of neo-Weberians, and neo-institutionalists, who also examine the interplay of agency, institution, and change.

Chapter 2 elaborates Mahoney's path-dependent theory. "In sum, a path-dependent approach emphasizes how actor choices create institutions and structures, which in turn shape subsequent actor behaviors, which in turn lead to the development of new institutional and structural patterns." Mahoney's project contributes to one of the most productive recent trends in sociological research. Following comparative-historical approaches crafted by Barrington Moore, David and Ruth Collier (Mahoney's mentors at UC Berkeley), and Evelyn Huber, he identifies three patterns of liberalism — radical, reformist, and liberal — as nineteenth century regime choices that defined crucial historical conjunctures. These conjunctures set in place state institutions that importantly explain later Central American political development. Mahoney contrasts a path dependent approach with those that place strategic emphasis on agrarian structure, U.S. intervention and the legacies of colonialism or global market structures. The implications of Mahoney's work for neo-Marxist theory, where the concept historical conjuncturehas occupied a central role (as in the works of Gramsci, Poggi, or Castells), or for world systems theory would be clearer were he to review these major theoretical models. Though relevant to his theory and subject, Mahoney chooses not to address either.

Mahoney asks why Central America's republics developed extremely different political systems. He explores this question using the path-dependent steps of his model. In seven chapters of historical analysis, he first examines the institutions and class relations that preceded a historical conjuncture, the liberal reform period, that stretched over several decades of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Then he analyses the conjuncture in each of the three regime types, using Central American republics to illustrate his theory's validity. Finally, he reviews the postliberal reform period institutions and class relations. A concluding chapter discusses the methodological implications of his study. His analysis of these three regime patterns demonstrates the robust insights that can result from rigorous comparative historical research (Charles Ragin, Issues and Alternatives in Comparative Social Research, 1991; E.J. Brill, Dietrich Rueschemeyer, Evelyne Huber Stephens, and John D. Stephens, Capitalist Development and Democracy. University of Chicago Press, 1992).

Legacies of Liberalism makes an important contribution to the literature on national development, Latin American...