Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book analyses US involvement in the elections, which included large-scale support for the anti-Sandinista opposition. It explores the impact the US role might have had on the outcome of the elections and on democracy in Nicaragua as well as the precedent-setting implications for US foreign policy, among other issues addressed by way of conclusion. The Nicaraguan elections were the most observed in world history and have stood out as a historic precedent in Latin America for the peaceful transfer of power by a revolutionary movement that came to power by armed struggle. The Nicaraguan electoral process grew simultaneously out of the internal dynamic of Nicaraguan society and the Sandinista Revolution and the external dynamic of the US-imposed war.