The history of Man is marked by recurrent autocratic rule. In fact, autocracy in its various guises is perhaps the most prevalent form of political authority in history. Latin America has suffered autocratic rule as has the rest of the world; but while the genus is autocrat, the species, caudillo, is almost unique to nineteenth-century Latin America (more specifically, Spanish America). To understand the distinctive qualities of the caudillo, as opposed to any other kind of autocrat, one must examine the historical matrix of nineteenth-century Latin America and the cluster of cultural values that at once limited and provided opportunities to persons in the society. The question becomes one of interaction between the temporal and cultural circumstances, and the variable of choice of action by men.

One of the most important developments in Latin America since the end of World War II, has been the rapid growth of all major cities, generally at a pace well beyond the rate of growth of the rural areas as well as the countries as a whole. The expansion due to normal growth (high birth rates coupled with declining death rates and increased longevity) is at times high. However, such growth has often been augumented sharply due to a seemingly irreversible flow of migrants from the rural areas. And among the many problems and difficulties raised by such migration, the very large squatter shantytowns are perhaps the most obvious as well as the most misunderstood developments that have resulted. Both popular journalists and academic social scientists have commented at length and in lurid terms about the "belts of mushrooming misery" and the "festering sores" which these squatter settlements supposedly comprise.

La sociedad es la estructura formulada que emana de un modo particular del vivir en conjunto. De ahí que convivencia signifique connivir, vivir-con, es decir, vivir en compañéa de otros. Y como convivir implica tanto un lapso de tiempo como un ámbito donde pasar ese tiempo resulta que la sociedad habrá de requerir una locación permanente donde la misma se produzca. Por otra parte, para que la sociedad sea esa sociedad y no otra deberá poseer ciertos rasgos específicos que la distingan haciéndola única, es decir, volviéndola país. Y estos rasgos o actitudes o prácticas institucionalizadas en la medida que hagan sentido a todos sus miembros por igual configurarán el chasis donde la estructura social de la nación proseguirá una marcha articulada y sin tropiezos.

The first English travel literature dealing with the western countries of South America is that which describes the exploits of early British navigators such as Drake, Narbrough, Anson, and others.1 These accounts, however, are mostly limited to descriptions of the coastal areas, and very little is included about the inland country, the people, and their way of life. It was not until after the wars of independence had been fought and won that the Spanish monopolistic barriers were fully eliminated, and foreigners were permitted to travel freely in the newlyemancipated South American countries. This was particularly true of Chile and Peru, to which countless Englishmen were attracted and were able to record their first-hand, vivid impressions of what they had seen.

When it assumed office in 1921 the Harding administration found itself confronted with the problem of arranging the withdrawal of American troops from the Dominican Republic. Terminating the American presence in that country was part of the administration's policy of improving relations with Latin America, and both Warren G. Harding and Charles Evans Hughes were strongly committed to this goal. They believed that abandoning armed intervention in favor of advice and counsel would foster good will in Latin America and ultimately benefit the United States by enabling it to garner the trade and support of the region. The president and secretary of state also contended that such a policy could stabilize the area and thereby render the military interventions of the past unnecessary. Thus withdrawal from the Dominican Republic was part of a larger policy.

In 1817, Henri de Saint-Simon won the nineteen-year-old Auguste Comte over to his views concerning the lamentable condition of post-revolutionary French society and the necessity for a radical scheme of reform, and it was during the political turmoil of the second quarter of the nineteenth century that Comte, intending to reorder society through the application of scientific knowledge to social ills, presented his philosophy of positivism. Comte's project was nothing less than a blueprint for universal reform that would not only save France from ruin but would also, hopefully, rescue all of humanity. In its entirety the Comtean doctrine included a philosophy of history, a theory of knowledge and pedagogy, a method or logic of science, a positivist ethic (the so-called "subjective synthesis"), a socioeconomic plan, a theory of government, and a type of secular faith which he called the Religion of Humanity.

The intriguing character of Caribbean history has fascinated many. The epic story of Spanish discovery, conquest and empire is deeply rooted in these ancient island sands. Haiti holds a unique attraction, because, for years, she was a French island in a Spanish sea and was the first Latin American republic to gain independence. On January 1, 1804, after the leadership of the inspired Toussaint L'Ouverture, Haiti emerged a free nation. Twelve years later, Venezuela's valiant Simón Bolívar, deeply committed to the independence struggle on the mainland sailed to Haiti and requested help. There, he met one of Hispanic history's most dynamic personalities, the guerrilla warrior, Francisco Xavier Mina. Until now, the story of their rendezvous and the events surrounding it has remained one of history's many secrets.

The ability to read and write in some language is of fundamental importance and is usually considered one of the prime indicators of the social and economic accomplishments and potential of a nation. The Ecuadorian scholar Gonzalo Rubio Orbe declares that "among the minimum and elementary requirements of the cultural capacity of the population for general development, and, in particular, economic development, nothing less than the elimination of illiteracy can be demanded."

The traditional approach to Latin American studies has been through the historical account, emphasizing specific leaders or epochs of a given Latin American nation in change, based on the assumption, mostly implicit, that each of these events may be considered as a unique phenomenon, subject to individual interpretation. This diachronic approach can well serve as a fruitful point of departure for systematic empirical investigations into border Latin American cultures. The contribution of a generalizing science such as sociology need not be suspected of an abortive rebellion against these established and accepted procedures. Rather, an empirical inquiry into the similarities and differences between border Latin American culture and our own gives a new dimension to the field of Latin American studies previously unavailable. This paper will attempt to illustrate the type of possible contributions of border research by using recent empirical studies.