ABSTRACT
For most of the Third World, and perhaps for part of the First, the attainment of integral democracy entails revolution. With the overthrow of the hated Somoza family dynasty a decade earlier in July 1979, a generation of Nicaraguans had been presented with the opportunity to build the new democratic, revolutionary Nicaragua they had dreamed of, fought for, and sacrificed for. Internal and international political developments had the effect of strengthening Sandinista acceptance of a nonauthoritarian path to revolutionary transformation in a context of multiparty electoral competition and guarantees for the private sector. The revolutionary process was simply entering a second phase, again independently of the results of the elections. The Sandinistas, for the first time in the history of revolutionary movements, have learned half of that lesson. In reality, entering into a political-electoral contest was a no-win and a no-lose proposition for both the Sandinistas and the Bush administration.
