ABSTRACT
Ecuadoran politics and society are permeated by three dominant realities: the status of the Indian, regional bifurcation, and the persistent influence of personalism in national leadership. The earliest parties reflected the familiar Latin American division between Liberals and Conservatives, producing in Ecuador the Conservative party and the Radical Liberal party. Ecuador remains primarily a preindustrial society, dependent for international trade on primary-product exports. Ecuador's political or governmental organizations and processes cannot be called institutionalized by any reasonable standard. Clearly the military remains a conspicuous factor in Ecuadoran politics, and that reality seems unlikely to change. Until the constitution of 1979 decreed otherwise, Ecuador had a literacy requirement for voting. In 1952 Ecuadoran Revolutionary Nationalist Action briefly supported Velasco Ibarra, but it has never been a successful contender in Ecuadoran elections. Elections have been held with some regularity throughout the twentieth century, but military government has been the norm.
