PUMAREJO,ALFONSO,LOPEZ AND LIBERAL RADICALISM IN 1930S COLOMBIA

This article locates the first regime of Alfonso Lopez Pumarejo (the R evolucion en marcha, 1934-8) within the social dynamics of Colombia's polarised party system, rather than the developmentalist and class dyn amics that are frequently invoked. Lopez's economic and political thou ght is shown to be far closer to the partisan and antistatist traditio ns of Colombian liberalism than is often assumed, and his rise to powe r is depicted as a victory of political strategy rather than class all iances. After surveying the role of the Accion Liberal group of intell ectuals in the radicalisation of Liberal discourse, culminating in the constitutional reform of 1936, the article offers hypotheses about th e transitory nature of Lopez-era Liberal radicalism.