ABSTRACT
Surges of political development are likely to occur sooner if catalyzing, or at least facilitating, leadership has emerged, and to be delayed to the extent that entrenched elites resort effectively to control and cooptation. With the most politically advanced urban elements polarized between the ideological mobilization of violence-oriented communists and local fascists, Vargas skillfully guided Brazil along a centrist path. For Mexico, significant political development took place even later than in Brazil. Promising beginnings made in the middle of the nineteenth century by Juarez and the Liberals were swept aside by the French intervention, whose aftermath was the developmentally oriented Diaz dictatorship. By the late 1980s, Mexico had become urban, increasingly industrial, and soci-etally complex. The Dominican Republic's political development experience at first approximated that of Nicaragua. Cumulative economic development and modernization under governments pursuing growth gave rise to further social mobilization. Huntington's global-universal scheme also helps clarify the course of Colombia's political life.
