Determinantes institucionales de la reivindicacion autonomista en Puerto Rico

Abstract

This work analyzes demands for autonomy in Puerto Rico under the theoretical perspective of the New Historical Institutionalism. This analysis is conducted in order to underline how changes in the context shaped the goals and strategies of the political actors (Puerto Rican autonomists) and how institutional variables (the electoral system, census restrictions, bureaucratic despotism, political violence) conditioned the eventual pathway to autonomy on the island, which shaped a non-subversive character. The study of this historical phase enables us to understand autonomy as an inevitable outcome and result of an unbroken institutional design. That is why the 20th century is a mirror of what had taken place in the 19th century, and this serves as evidence of how institutions can lead politics through the years.