Book launch: 'Peru: Elite Power and Political Capture'

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As a result of the liberalising reforms of the 1990s and the commodity super-cycle that followed, Peru's business elites have accumulated very substantial political power which they have deployed through a number of mechanisms to maintain an effective control over the key workings of the state. At the same time, the country's once powerful left has been marginalised as a consequence of the economic and political debacles of the 1980s; as such Peru has seen no 'pink tide' in recent years.

The book looks at the ways in which elite control has been exercised since Independence in the early 19th century and how this tradition - despite the reforming efforts of the Velasco government (1968-75) - is still maintained today.

Dr John Crabtree is Research Associate at the Latin American Centre, University of Oxford, and senior member of Saint Antony's College. He has written widely on the politics of the Andean countries, particularly on Bolivia and Peru.

Dr Francisco Durand is senior lecturer in politics at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru in Lima. He was previously lecturer at the University of Texas, San Antonio. He has undertaken detailed research into the structure and workings of Peru's principle business groups.