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Juan Manuel de Rosas: Authoritarian Caudillo and Primitive Populist
Author(s) -
Shumway Jeffrey M.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
history compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.121
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 1478-0542
DOI - 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2004.00113.x
Subject(s) - authoritarianism , power (physics) , populism , historiography , humanities , democracy , sociology , political science , art , law , politics , physics , quantum mechanics
Juan Manuel de Rosas governed Argentina between 1829 and 1852, with a brief interlude in the early 1830s. His rule and his legacy have provoked deep divisions in Argentine society, and much of the history written of him has come in the extremes of diatribes and vindication. The exact nature of the Rosas era and how he governed, therefore, continues to be discussed as historians try to get beyond impassioned polemics. This article provides a brief background on the historiography on Rosas, his rise to power, and, using examples from Afro‐Argentines, gauchos, and Indians, demonstrates how Rosas used a combination of authoritarianism and populism to maintain power and stability during his rule.