Not-quite-neoliberal natures in Latin America: An introduction (original) (raw)
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Notes on the "cycle of impugnment/contesting to neoliberalism in Latin America" (CINLA
2017
At the beginning of the 21st century a new political stage opened in Latin America, giving rise to governments opposed to neo-liberalism that had been hegemonic until then. Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, plus Nicaragua, El Salvador and, briefly, Paraguay, set up a new regional political map whose main features (progressive, post-neoliberal, leftist, of "popular national consensus", neo-developmental, neo-extractive) were and remain the subject of debate. We opted to call this stage the "cycle of impugnment/contesting/challenging to neo-liberalism" (CINLA), to include common and more characteristic features which comprise all cases, beyond their national specificities. With this characterization we want to emphasize the idea of process, moment of hegemonic dispute and not a completed stage. Naming matters: the "post" approach (as in post-neoliberalism) does not help us to advance in the understanding of what is going on, it just means that one period or cycle comes after the other. This "post" framework also risks of falling into determinism. If the emphasis is put on the end of the commodities super-cycle, the conclusion will be the end of the contesting government. But reality is much more complex than this, and the features that singularize it are linked with political and social specificities, as well as economic. The differences in the policies implemented by governments in the region during the CINLA are related with the depth of the crisis that originated them in each case and with the political viability of projects that attempted new political experiences, autonomous of neo-liberalism and its most prototypical beneficiaries. However, such policies did not transcend the stage of neoliberal accumulation, whose main features are the prevalence of global financialization and the intensification of the exploitation of natural resources (extractivism). This does not mean to ascribe to the hypothesis that the continuity of the
Critical Social Policy, 2018
The rejection of neoliberalism in Latin America at the time of the new millennium led to the emergence of a wave of 'post neoliberal' governments that sought to renegotiate the relationship between state and market and pioneer new forms of inclusive welfare. Supported by income from an export boom and a commitment to raising taxes, these governments attempted to implement a new economic model which bore some similarities to social democracy, alongside greater emphasis on recognition and identity politics. We ask here what accounts for the difficulties of institutionalising Leftist governance in Latin America and, in so doing, we draw attention to the embeddedness of the idea of neoliberal governance, globally and regionally. Whilst the weaknesses of the Left are real, the return of neoliberalism, now on the horizon in Latin America, fundamentally reflects the fact it is the global status quo.
Debating the ‘post-neoliberal turn’ in Latin America, Progress in Human Geography, 38(1), 62 - 91.
Progress in Human Geography, 2014
In this paper, we critically engage with the notion of a ‘post-neoliberal turn’ in Latin America. The analysis interrogates the existence and characteristics of post-neoliberalism as a mode of regulation, and explores the contributions (and limits) of the concept as a means of theorizing political and economic re-structuring. We critically synthesize the literature, articulating commonly cited principles and practices of post-neoliberalism according to different political, ideological, and geographical contexts. To generate productive engagement across disciplinary and geographical boundaries, we draw on perspectives from Latin America and on concepts of ‘variegated neoliberalization’ and ‘counter-neoliberalization’ (thereby abstracting from, rather than about, Latin America).
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Sociology Compass, 2021
Over the last two decades, academic debates around neoliberalism in Latin America have shifted from evaluations of the drawbacks and virtues of the application of neoliberal policies for achieving socioeconomic development , towards discussions imagining and implementing alternatives. After thirty years of neoliberal reform, even neoliberal advocates have increasingly recognised the pernicious effects that the process of neoliberalization have had on people's lives. The fleeting left and centre-left moment brought renewed hopes and expectations of a post-neoliberal future. However, post-neoliberal states could not solve the contradictions of neoliberalism and told us much about its resilience and adaptability.
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The role of ideas has been neglected, in comparison with the role of interests and institutions, in the literature on neoliberal reform in Latin America. While ideas were not the primary cause of neoliberal reform, their development, articulation, and dissemination are a significant part of the story of the rise and fall of the "Washington Consensus." The neoliberalism of the 1980s and 1990s lost credibility and capacity to provide politically feasible policy guidelines because it was based on an elitist, exclusionary pact among small groups of experts and elites representing the interests of transnational capital. Only by understanding the origins and limitations of the ideas behind neoliberal reform can a new, more inclusive economic model for Latin America be created.
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This paper attempts to analyze the relationship between anti-neoliberalism and development through the theoretical lens of ideational and intellectual fields and shedding light into some (partial) hypothesis and conclusions about the neoliberalism era. The argument proposed here is that anti-neoliberalism entailed two major trends related to various changes and transformations in the regional political economy hegemonic project: diffraction in neoliberalism on one side, and bifurcation of neoliberalism on the other. These two tendencies shed new lights to understand the changing neoliberal hegemony in the XXI century, its discontinuities and continuities. The leading objective here is to refresh analytic frames around this topic and to identify rising paradigms of development in South America in recent times by theorizing about the usefulness of anti-neoliberalism as analytic tool. KEYWORDS: Neoliberalism. Anti-neoliberalism. Development. South America. Uma breve historia do antineo...
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An analysis of the dynamics of capitalist development over the last two decades has been overshadowed by an all too prevalent "globalization" discourse. It appears that much of the Left has bought into this discourse, tacitly accepting globalization as an irresistible fact and that in many ways it is progressive, needing only for the corporate agenda to be derailed and an abandonment of neoliberalism. This is certainly the case in Latin America where the Left has focused its concern almost exclusively on the bankruptcy of "neoliberalism", with reference to the agenda pursued and package of policy reforms implemented by virtually every government in the region by the dint of ideology if not the demands of the global capital or political opportunism. In this concern, imperialism and capitalism per se, as opposed to neoliberalism, have been pushed off the agenda, and as a result, excepting Chavéz's Bolivarian Revolution, the project of building socialism has virtually disappeared as an object of theory and practice. In this paper we would like to contribute towards turning this around-to resurrect the socialist project; to do so by deconstructing the discourse on "neoliberal globalization" and reconstructing the actual contemporary dynamics of capitalist development.
Post‐neoliberalism in Latin America: Rebuilding and Reclaiming the State after Crisis
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The idea that states should take on an enhanced role in the pursuit of development is once again becoming increasingly pronounced in the global South. In Latin America, the 'return of the state' is associated with neostructuralism or post-neoliberalism and the rise of the New Left. Post-neoliberal projects of governance seek to retain elements of the previous export-led growth model whilst introducing new mechanisms for social inclusion and welfare. In addition to being a project of growth based on exports and expanded social spending, post-neoliberalism has a distinctive political character. This article explores the pillars of the new governance project, emphasizing the citizenship claims associated with it, along with some of the tensions that arise from export-dependent growth, budget limitations, a weak tax base and the difficulties of managing enhanced social expectations. In making their argument, the authors draw on the examples of Bolivia, Ecuador and Argentina.