THE THESIS OF THIS BOOK IS THAT VARIATIONS IN VIOLENCE AND REPRESSION BETWEEN SOCIETIES, OR AT VARIOUS TIMES WITHIN THE SAME SOCIETY, ARE CAUSED BY CERTAIN CONDITIONS COMMON TO THOSE SOCIETIES. PART I ANALYZES THE DIMENSION OF SOCIAL COHESION OR THE DEGREE TO WHICH SOCIETIES DIFFER IN THE COOPERATION AND COLLECTIVE ACTION OF THEIR MEMBERS; MEASURES THE DEGREE OF POLITICAL REPRESSION AND VIOLENCE FOR EACH COUNTRY IN LATIN AMERICA BETWEEN 1950 AND 1970; AND COMBINES THESE MEASURES TO PROVIDE A NEGATIVE INDICATION OF SOCIAL COHESION. THE AUTHORS ALSO DISCUSS WHY CERTAIN SOCIOECONOMIC, STRUCTURAL, AND POLITICAL CONCEPTS MIGHT HELP EXPLAIN LEVELS OF VIOLENCE AND REPRESSION, AND THEY TEST THE RELATIONSHIP WITH DATA CORRELATIONS FROM LATIN AMERICA IN THE 1950'S AND 1960'S. THESE CONCEPTS ARE BROUGHT TOGETHER IN MULTIPLE VARIABLE ANALYSES BEFORE BEING APPLIED IN PART II TO SEPARATE COUNTRIES. FOR INDIVIDUAL ANALYSIS, THE DISCUSSION CATEGORIZES AND EXPLAINS THE COUNTRIES OF COSTA RICA, EL SALVADOR, PANAMA, MEXICO, ECUADOR, NICARAGUA, PERU, AND HONDURAS AS COHESIVE; BRAZIL AND CHILE AS BREAKING DOWN IN COHESION; AND CUBA AND BOLIVIA AS REVOLUTIONARY. PART III FURTHER EXAMINES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS AND HISTORY AND ILLUSTRATES THE CONTRIBUTION OF COMPARATIVE HISTORY TO THEORY BUILDING THROUGH A DISCUSSION OF STABLE, REPRESSIVE DICTATORSHIPS, SOCIAL REVOLUTIONS, AND THE DISINTEGRATION OF COHESIVE SOCIETIES. A BIBLIOGRAPHY STATISTICAL TABLES, AND FIGURES ARE PROVIDED. (AOP)