First published in 1979. Using first-hand documentation from Argentine and Brazilian archives, this text represents a breakthrough in providing a better knowledge of the period immediatley following the Second World War. It is a valuable explanation of developments in the River Plate Basin and the understanding of diplomatic relations with the United States.
Most current analysis on Latin American politics has been directed at examining the shift to the left in the region. Very little attention, however, has been paid to the reactions of the right to this phenomenon. What kind of discursive, policy, and strategic responses have emerged among the right in Latin America as a result of this historic turn to the left? Have there been any shifts in attitudes to inequality and poverty as a result of the successes of the left in those areas? How has the right responded strategically to regain the political initiative from the left? And what implications might such responses have for democracy in the region? The Right in Latin America seeks to provide answers to these questions while helping to fill a gap in the literature on contemporary Latin American politics. Unlike previous studies, Barry Cannon’s book does not simply concentrate on party political responses to the contemporary challenges for the right in the region. Rather he uses a wider, more comprehensive theoretical framework, grounded in political sociology, in recognition of the deep social roots of the right among Latin America’s elites, in a region known for its startling inequalities. Using Michael Mann’s pioneering work on power, he shows how elite dominance in the key areas of the economy, ideology, the military, and in transnational relations, has had a profound influence on the political strategies of the Latin American right. He shows how left governments, especially the more radical ones, have threatened elite power in these areas, influencing right-wing strategic responses as a result. These responses, he persuasively argues, can vary from elections, through street protests and media campaigns, to military coups, depending on the level of perceived threat felt by elites from the left. In this way, Cannon uncovers the dialectical nature of the left/right relationship in contemporary Latin American politics, while simultaneously providing pointers as to how the left can respond to the challenge of the right’s resurgence in the current context of left retrenchment. Cannon’s multi-faceted inter-disciplinary approach, including original research among right-leaning actors in the region makes the book an essential reference not only for those interested in the contemporary Latin American right but for anyone interested in the region’s politics at a critical juncture in its history.
This interdisciplinary edited volume explores the political economy of regionalism in Latin America. It identifies convergent forces which have existed in the region since its very conception and analyses these dynamics in their different historical, geographic and structural contexts. Particular attention is paid to key countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, as well as subregions like the Southern Cone and Central America. To understand the resilience of regionalism in Latin America, this book proposes to highlight four main issues. Firstly, that resilience is linked to mechanisms of self-enforcement that are part of the accumulation of experiences, institution building and common cultural features described in this book as regionalist acquis. Secondly, the elements and driving forces behind the promotion and expression of the regionalist acquis are influenced and shaped by nested systems in which social processes are inserted. Thirdly, when looking at systems, there is a particular influence by national and global ones, which condition the form and endurance of regional projects. Finally, beyond systems, the book highlights the relevance of agents as crucial players in the shaping of the resilience of regionalism in Latin America. This insightful collection will appeal to advanced students and researchers in international economics, international relations, international political economy, economic history and Latin American studies.
From Menem’s new Thatcherite experiment in Argentina, through Fujimori’s unexpected victory in Peru, to Collor’s near defeat at the hands of the rapidly growing Workers’ Party of Brazil, Latin American politics is once again in turmoil. Whilst military dictators have been dumped from office, their liberal and populist replacements have found television exposure and playboy reputations insufficient to hold together societies still remorselessly squeezed insufficient to hold together societies still remorselessly squeezed by United States foreign policy. But US influence in the subcontinent is not only under siege from the impoverished masses of increasingly unstable states; it is also threatened by intensifying superpower competition as Japan and a unifying Europe mount their challenges for world dominance. In this wide-ranging and original polemic, Petras and Morley examine the social structures which emerged from neo-liberal economic policy during the 1970s and 1980s. they show how Latin American society is increasingly organized around a continental bourgeoisie maintaining high levels of foreign investment, a national bourgeoisie operating on the margins of legality and committed to both economic deregulation and public-sector activity, and a growing class of low-paid and poorly employed workers subject to the demands of export-oriented capital into international financial circuits is matched by technical and intellectual integration, with a collapse into conformity of formerly critical groupings. For students and the interested general reader, this balanced and rigorous analysis of state power and social form provides a substantial new framework in which to consider the exigent questions of US-Latin American relations.
The book examines the 'Pink Tide' of leftist governments in Latin America struggling against neoliberal hegemony from a critical International Political Economy perspective. Focusing particularly on Venezuela and Brazil, it evaluates the transformative and emancipatory potentials of their political projects domestically, regionally and globally.
Human Rights, Hegemony and Utopia in Latin America: Poverty, Forced Migration and Resistance in Mexico and Colombia by Camilo Pérez-Bustillo and Karla Hernández Mares explores the evolving relationship between hegemonic and counter-hegemonic visions of human rights, within the context of cases in contemporary Mexico and Colombia, and their broader implications. The first three chapters provide an introduction to the book ́s overall theoretical framework, which will then be applied to a series of more specific issues (migrant rights and the rights of indigenous peoples) and cases (primarily focused on contexts in Mexico and Colombia,), which are intended to be illustrative of broader trends in Latin America and globally.
Brazil has increasingly capitalized its vast economic potential over the last decades. After economically dominating in South America, the country has gained attention all over the globe. Yet, until the election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil's foreign policy did not reflect the country's economical clout and rejected any aspiration for leadership. Lula, however, soon declared the country's need to assume its greatness and embraced a more assertive foreign policy, which started a debate about Brazilian hegemony in the region. In this thesis I claim that the regional resistance hindered Brazilian hegemony in South America despite the country's material supremacy and willingness to lead. The feasibility of the administration's final objective of pushing domestic development through regional hegemony is therefore seriously questioned. What exactly are the factors that determine a hegemon? An analysis of hegemonic theories underlines both material and social aspects that constitute a hegemon. Material aspects include a country's economic power, its military power, and also its structural power. Furthermore, a hegemon needs to be perceived as benevolent by following a cooperative approach towards its neighbors and providing public goods. Coercive measures are not accepted by subordinate states. Social aspects include a hegemon's ability to create a homogeneous environment of a shared culture. It is only in a system of intellectual and moral unity that a hegemon is accepted and allowed to rule over others. I argue that a lack of social cohesiveness in the region represents the main obstacle for Brazil's hegemony.
