Search

After its return to democracy in 1980, Peru suffered from a brutal internal conflict, which wound down in the 1990s. Since the collapse of the Fujimori regime in 2000, democracy has stabilized and the economy is thriving. Today, Peru today appears comparably peaceful and prosperous. However, Peru has experienced a resurgence of violence by two surviving factions of Sendero. This article builds upon the insights from historical research on Sendero Luminoso and uses a sub-national, negative binomial regression analysis to engage the cross-national research on the causes of contemporary violence. This analysis utilizes disaggregated measures of primary resources, poverty, coca cultivation, geography, and government spending to uncover drivers of Sendero violence from 2001-2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much has been discussed regarding the support for Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori during the implementation of his 'fujishock' program. In the voting behavior literature, the role of Fujimori's success in ending the terrorism is mentioned, but is a mere footnote to the story. However, we present historical analysis, public opinion data and economic statistics to argue that had he not controlled terrorism, Fujimori would not have been able to implement his stabilization programs and maintain popular support. We first show that the problem of terrorism was paramount and Fujimori's success in ending it was greatly rewarded in terms of personal support. Second, we show that the subsequent gains in the economic situation can be traced to improvements in security, because the political and social risks inherent in terrorism significantly curtail domestic and foreign investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]