Popular Overflow and State Crisis. The New Face of Peru in the 1980s

"One of the fundamental processes shaping Peru's current situation is the accelerating and unprecedented dynamic affecting its entire social, political, economic, and cultural structure. This is an overflow, in every dimension, of the institutional norms that had channeled national society and around which it had revolved since its constitution as a Republic. This dynamic proceeds from the spontaneous mobilization of popular sectors that, questioning the authority of the State and resorting to multiple parallel strategies and mechanisms, are altering the established rules of the game and changing the face of Peru. The overflow underway continuously and subtly alters the country's society, culture, and politics, creating new behavioral norms, values, attitudes, rules, beliefs, and lifestyles, which translate into multiple and varied forms of social, economic, and educational organization — representing one of the greatest changes in our entire history." (Excerpt from the introduction).