La República en armas: política, «ciudadanía armada» y elecciones en el Perú, 1871-1872

Abstract

The analysis of the electoral process 1871-72 is incomplete if we do not consider the military uprising led by the Gutierrez brothers and the resistance of the «armed citizens» that served as epilogue to the presidential election of 1872. Unlike other civic organizations in the past Sociedad Independencia Electoral did manage to control the armed revolt, moving, therefore, the axis of political power from the provinces – where the «constitutional» revolutions were traditionally defined – to Lima, the capital city of the republic. Changes in the nature of the country, within the army, in the economy and in the political strategies of civilians produced important transformations in the former electoral model, which has resisted for many decades the passage of time.