Blood and Debt: War and Nation-State in Latin America. MIGUEL ÁNGEL CENTENO: University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2002.

Abstract

Why did the Latin American state fail to develop in the nineteenth century beyond its limited organizational capacities? Why did international wars occur so infrequently on the continent in the 19^thand especially in the 20^thcenturies? What are the mutual relationships between war and the nation-state in Latin America? These are the three major puzzles that Miguel A. Centeno has addressed in a seminal and original work of political sociology about the (lack of) war and the (lack of) states in Latin America.