ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that Sendero's rapid growth in the 1980s and early 1990s was directly related to limits in the state's organizational capacities and influence in society. It examines the Maoist fundamentalism of Sendero and its relation to state policies. The chapter focuses on how the organizational limits of the state contributed to the expansion of insurgency. By the 1980s Sendero Luminoso was well-positioned to benefit from and expand that vacuum, meeting the social needs of many in the Andes more successfully than the state. A key factor in Sendero's ability to maintain secrecy was its cell-like structure. With its sophisticated internal organization and fundamentalist ideology, Sendero was well-positioned to fill this gap in state-society relations. The chapter examines the most important violent challenger for state power that Peru has confronted this century. The rapid growth of Sendero Luminoso during the 1980s demonstrated the difficulties confronting the state in society in the post-Velasco era.
