For more than 40 years, sociologist Dennis Gilbert has studied oligarchs in Latin America, focusing much of his academic attention on Peru. His recently published monograph represents a systematic review of “the oligarchs” in five Latin America nations (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru) and elaborates most fully on the oligarchs and oligarchy of Peru.
The book is timely for American readers who have spent the last several months watching a wealthy real estate tycoon attempt to manage the nation as “family enterprise.” In Latin America, beginning in the nineteenth century and continuing until about 1930, important families ruled politically, economically, and socially. Then, events during the first third of the twentieth century (the Mexican Revolution, modern voter laws in Argentina, the Great Depression) ended the oligarchs’ widespread grip on power.
Gilbert's first chapter, “Origins and Organization,” is an outstanding introduction to the text. The author explains the contextual specificity of the term “oligarch” and shows how the families connected and ruled in Latin America via school and political affiliations, social clubs and conjugal alliances. In the introduction, the author convincingly explains why he selected the five nations under study, but other countries could have been selected, including Bolivia, Colombia, and Nicaragua.
The second chapter explores the origins and operational structure of the “Oligarchic Republics,” which, as stated above, largely dissolved during the first third of the twentieth century. In the Mexican case, the Porfiriato (the 40-year rule of Porfirio Díaz) seemed less like an oligarchic republic than a dictatorship, but all of the oligarchic republics resembled dictatorships to some degree. Voter participation was severely limited, the press was controlled and sycophantic, and the Army was loyal—generally—to the powerful. Gilbert uses clear, accessible language and examples to explain how these oligarchies operated, but he never draws what would have been an easy and relevant comparison to a similar oligarchic pattern in the United States at the same time. The Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Carnegies, and Guggenheims come to mind as obvious examples of oligarchic America.
The book is not without flaws. First, the title is somewhat misleading; the text addresses the oligarchy in five Latin American nations, but focuses disproportionately on one nation, Peru. It seems to have grown out of the author's PhD dissertation, presented at Cornell University in 1977. Unfortunately, Gilbert seems to have been disinclined to engage with research more recent than the dissertation date. The three “cases” presented in the book concern three Peruvian oligarchic families (the Aspíllaga, Prado, and Miró Quesada), who developed their fortunes through plantation agriculture (north coast sugar), banking, and newspapers, specifically El Comercio of Lima. Gilbert carefully shows how politics, economics, and social norms came together in Peru and carries the discussion up through the left-wing Velasco military dictatorship, which lasted from 1968 to 1980. The author explores the extensive political intrigue of this time period but never provides a clear or convincing case for working-class organization or agency. The workers are presented in a somewhat unidimensional way, as people who are consistently and (more or less) effectively pushed around by the oligarchs.
The book would have benefited from a focused consideration of the material details associated with the oligarchy. What did the oligarchs do at their private clubs—clubs that seemed so important (throughout Latin America) to their social prestige and ascension? What did they study at school? Where did they live, and how did they furnish their homes? Gilbert presents a photo (10) of the neo-classical Palacio Edwards in Santiago, which resembles a smaller Herald Square Macy's in present-day New York City, but there is no description of the palace beyond the photo. This is another noticeable absence.
Overall, Gilbert has produced a text that will help contemporary students to approach study of the Latin American oligarchies, a vital baptism for understanding the profound political polarization and socioeconomic inequality that afflict most nations of contemporary Latin America.
