ABSTRACT
This chapter examines formative themes in Latin American political thought and explores a key division in debates since the nineteenth century – that between the Left and the Right. While tracing their origins to Europe and the US, many of the ideas permeating Latin American political thought have gained a distinctively local quality. Ideas have been shaped around several formative themes: centralism, the liberal heritage, the revolutionary tradition, scientific notions known as positivism, and corporatism. José Carlos Mariátegui was one of the first to stress the revolutionary potential of peasants, arguing that the indigenous peasantry, not the industrial proletariat, were the true revolutionary class in Latin America. The social and welfare policies adopted by left-of-centre governments have also varied in their extent and radicalism, although in overall regional terms they have been highly effective. The Roman Catholic Church and Christian thought played a formative role in the evolution of political conservatism in Latin America following Independence.
