Lord-Driven State Formation

Abstract

This chapter describes warlords as central political agents in the critical period of state-formation in Latin America, specifically in Venezuela, Peru, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Paraguay. It mentions the five caudillos who succeeded at state-formation that emerged in Latin America before 1850 and are considered a consequence of improvised methods of military mobilization against Iberian rule. It also explains how lords gained prominence in the diffusion of private armies as a consequence of the failure to form states by the first generation of postindependence rulers, such as Facundo Quiroga. The chapter compares state-making lords of Latin America to the western European warrior as state-formation agents. It clarifies how Latin American lords and western European warriors share the initial source of power that allowed them to launch their political careers, such as military capabilities.