In an effort to promote a rational, constructive dialogue on Nicaragua, the Royal Institute of International Affairs and the Institute of Soviet and East European Studies of the Graduate School of International Studies of the University of Miami held a three-day seminar in London in April 1986. This volume contains the papers presented.

Jiri Valenta was educated at the Prague School of Economics and Johns Hopkins University. Former coordinator of Soviet and East European studies at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, Professor Valenta was also a fellow at the Brookings Institution, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars among other appointments. He is the author of Soviet Intervention in Czechoslovakia, 1968: Anatomy of a Decision; coauthor of The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: Three Perspectives; coeditor and contributor to Eurocommunism between East and West; Soviet Decision making for National Security; Grenada and Soviet/Cuban Policy: Internal Crisis and U.S./OECS Intervention and Conflict in Nicaragua. Dr. Valenta testified before the Kissinger Bipartisan Commission on Central America and at hearings of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City.

Esperanza Duran, a Mexican national, is a Research Fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), where she has directed the Latin American program since 1983. Formerly she was Professor of International Studies at El Colegio de Mexico and the editor of Foro Internacional. Dr. Duran has also taught at the University of Warwick, the London School of Economics and the University of Southern California's School of International Relations in London. Her publications include Latin America and the World Recession (editor and contributor, 1985), Guerra y revolucion. Las grandes potencias y Mexico 1914-1918 (1985), and European Interests in Latin America (1985) as well as numerous articles published on both sides of the Atlantic.

Foreword -- Preface -- Introduction -- A Comment on the Crisis in Central America -- Roots of the Crisis -- The FSLN in Power -- Leninism in Nicaragua -- North American Interventionism -- Aspects of the Evolution of Law in Sandinista Nicaragua -- Revolution in Nicaragua -- Internal Dimensions of the Crisis -- Political Legitimacy and Dissent -- Somocismo and the Sandinista Revolution -- Regional Dimensions of the Crisis -- Nicaragua and Its Neighbors -- Contadora: A Next Phase? -- International Dimensions of the Crisis -- Nicaragua between East and West: The Soviet Perspective -- Western Europe and Central America -- The United States: The Search for a Negotiated Solution -- Conclusion and Appendixes -- Synthesis of Viewpoints: Concluding Remarks -- Appendixes -- General Political-Military Platform of the FSLN for the Triumph of the Popular Sandinista Revolution (May 1977) -- The Historic Program of the FSLN (1969)* -- First Draft of the National Constitution of the Republic of Nicaragua (February 1986)* -- Contadora Act on Peace and Cooperation in Central America -- Report on the Meeting of a Secret Regional Caucus, Managua (January 1983) -- Publications of the Institute for Soviet and East European Studies of the Graduate School of International Studies, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida