This research compares the contemporary political environ ments in El Salvador and Nicaragua. In Nicaragua, a new right wing government has just recently assumed power, after winning an unexpected victory over the former Sandinista government. In El Salvador, the successor government to the right wing government installed by the military junta in 1980 remains in power. In each country, however, the political atmosphere remains strained.
The political environment in El Salvador, is relatively quite by Salvadoran standards. In recent weeks, the only major rebel activity has been the blowing up of one power station, which may be viewed as a raising of the flag to let the govern ment know that the rebels remain a force capable of independent and significant action ("Rebels Cut Off the Power in San Salva dor," 1990). In Nicaragua, the political atmosphere is tense, without violence. The Contras are still dragging their feet on earlier commitments to turn in their arms; however, the new Chormoro government introduced policies designed to undercut the significant land reform actions of the former Sandinista government, which will return the country to Samoza era type privilege, and provide land to the Contras ("Chormoro Reintro duces Samoza Policies," 1990). Together, these actions by the
2Chormoro government appear to be exerting some mollifying effect on the Contra bands.
There are two ties that bind the political events in Nicaragua and El Salvador to the same unstable magma. One of these factors is the absence of a peaceable means for political dissenters to participate in the political process. The second factor is the overt interferrence in the internal affairs of each country by the United States.
Participation in a political system refers to an indivi dual's freedom to attempt to alter the social order in which he or she finds himself or herself (Binder, 1989). Triska (1987, 160) said that developing count...