Democratization Through Peace: The Difficult Case of Guatemala

The Guatemalan peace process -- the negotiation and initial implementation of far-reaching peace accords ending the countrys 36 year civil war -- provides an excellent opportunity to revisit a number of ongoing discussions about political democratization and social justice in Latin America. The first part of this article summarizes how beyond ending the war this peace process contributed significantly to the democratization of Guatemala; how it opened up political space and what gains have (and have not) been achieved in the content of the accords signed. The rest of the article analyzes the Guatemalan experience from the early 1980s to the present as a means to address some of those broad theoretical debates about democratization and social justice. (excerpt)