Citation

Lambert P, Medina R. Bull. Latin Am. Res. 2007; 26(3): 339-355.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Society for Latin American Studies, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1470-9856.2007.00228.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Nationalism has been a key, but generally overlooked, component of twentieth-century Paraguayan politics and an important explanatory factor in the country’s political outcomes. Indeed, it has been central to the struggle for political power, most significantly to the continuing hegemony of the Colorado Party. This article traces the development of the Paraguayan Left, highlighting its structural and functional weaknesses, and analyses its relationship with nationalism, in particular with the dominant Colorado nationalist discourse. It argues that an important failure of the Left – and indeed other political parties and movements – has been its inability to produce a successful challenge to this hegemonic discourse.