ctions of the leaders in the Latin American wars of independence from Spain have been compared to the headlong actions of gamblers, rather than the calculations of chess players (Johnson, 1964, p. 23).
Personality continues to be a dominant factor in Latin American politics. The collective leadership of the Sandinista regime in Nacaragua is very much the exception in the region. From Castro on the left to D'Aubuisson on the right, political movements tend to be reflections of their leaders; in the case of D'Aubuisson, a charismatic dominant figure can remain dominant even when (due to the need to placate the United States) he is excluded from the formal leadership of the movement he founded.
By no means is D'Aubuisson the extreme example of the force of personality. Juan Peron, though dead for over a decade and a half, continues to be a dominant political figure in Argentina. We must say Peron, not Peronism as a movement, because Peronism hardly exists as a movement in any clearly definable sense. It has no ideology; instead, right wing and left wing Peronistas have battled one another more than once. Nor though Peron's second wife ruled for a time in her own name after his death can we speak of a Peron "dynasty." It is the remembered force of Peron's personality that lends the movement its continuing power.
The remainder of this study is divided into two main sections, followed by a brief conclusion. The first section presents a theoretical discussion of the "strong man thesis" in Latin American politics. Latin America's history since the Spanish conquest is explored for insights into the historical, cultural, and psychological factors which have given rise to Latin American personalism. The second section explores the specific instance of the "strong man thesis" presented by the rise, fall, restoration, and enduring impact of Peron on Argentina.
The roots of Latin American personalism existed before the ...