HONDURAS - THE POLITICS OF EXCEPTION AND MILITARY REFORMISM (1972-1978)

The specificities of contemporary Honduran politics are explored by ex amining both national historical development and the cooption of popul ar protest by military reformism in the 1970s. The dynamics underpinni ng demobilisation of the popular movement after 1976 are explained wit h reference to both the agrarian reform implemented by the military an d certain features of local political culture, such as patronage and c lientelism, which - it is argued - were utilised selectively to coopt a sector of the organised labour movement. Divisions within the popula r movement, in part a product of traditions of state-labour relations, were also significant in weakening the popular challenge.