Peru's APRA

Download or read book Peru's APRA written by Carol Graham and published by Lynne Rienner Pub. This book was released on 1992 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Peru's APRA - one of the oldest and most controversial political parties in Latin America - came to power in 1985, expectations were high for the new government, and in part because a decade of economic decline and social crisis had discredited both the military and the right as alternatives. APRA did manage an unprecedented consensus for two years. But a sudden shift in strategy to confrontational rhetoric and authoritarian tactics led to policy stagnation, economic collapse, and a surge of reaction and political violence from extremes of the left and right. Rather than playing the role of the strong centre, APRA acted as a catalyst for the polarisation process. The party's sectarian and authoritarian strains, coupled with the increasingly erratic behaviour of its once-popular young leader, Alan Garcia, created damaging and perhaps irreparable divisions between the party and the rest of society, and between society and polity more generally.