Download or read book The Failure of Latin America written by John Beverley and published by University of Pittsburgh Press. This book was released on 2019-05-31 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Failure of Latin America is a collection of John Beverley’s previously published essays and pairs them with new material that reflects on questions of post-colonialism and equality within the context of receding continental socialism. Beverley sees an impasse within both the academic postcolonial project and the Bolivarian idea of Latin America. The Pink Tide may have failed to permanently reshape Latin America, but in its failure there remains the possibility of an alternative modernity not bound to global capitalism. Beverley proposes that equality, modified by the postcolonial legacy, is a particularly Latin American possibility that can break the impasse and redefine Latin-Americanism.
Download or read book Why Latin American Nations Fail written by Esteban Pérez Caldentey and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2017-10-03 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The question of development is a major topic in courses across the social sciences and history, particularly those focused on Latin America. Many scholars and instructors have tried to pinpoint, explain, and define the problem of underdevelopment in the region. With new ideas have come new strategies that by and large have failed to explain or reduce income disparity and relieve poverty in the region. Why Latin American Nations Fail brings together leading Latin Americanists from several disciplines to address the topic of how and why contemporary development strategies have failed to curb rampant poverty and underdevelopment throughout the region. Given the dramatic political turns in contemporary Latin America, this book offers a much-needed explanation and analysis of the factors that are key to making sense of development today.
Download or read book Latecomer State Formation written by Sebastian Mazzuca and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2021-05-11 with total page 461 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major contribution to the field of comparative state formation and the scholarship on long-term political development of Latin America “Ambitious and rich. . . . A sweeping and general theory of state formation and detailed historical reconstruction of essential events in Latin American political development. It combines structural elements with a novel emphasis on the political incentives and bargaining that shaped the map we have today.”—Hillel David Soifer, Governance Latin American governments systematically fail to provide the key public goods for their societies to prosper. Sebastián Mazzuca argues that the secret of Latin America’s failure is that its states were “born weak,” in contrast to states in western Europe, North America, and Japan. State formation in post-Independence Latin America occurred in a period when capitalism, rather than war, was the key driver forging countries. In pursuing the short-term benefits of international trade, Latin American leaders created states with chronic weaknesses, notably patrimonial administrations and dysfunctional regional combinations. Mazzuca analyzes pathways leading to variations in country size and level of pacification: “port-led” state formation in Argentina and Brazil; “party-led” in Mexico, Colombia, and Uruguay; and “lord-led” in Central America, Venezuela, and Peru.
Download or read book The Politics of Institutional Weakness in Latin America written by Daniel M. Brinks and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-06-11 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analysts and policymakers often decry the failure of institutions to accomplish their stated purpose. Bringing together leading scholars of Latin American politics, this volume helps us understand why. The volume offers a conceptual and theoretical framework for studying weak institutions. It introduces different dimensions of institutional weakness and explores the origins and consequences of that weakness. Drawing on recent research on constitutional and electoral reform, executive-legislative relations, property rights, environmental and labor regulation, indigenous rights, squatters and street vendors, and anti-domestic violence laws in Latin America, the volume's chapters show us that politicians often design institutions that they cannot or do not want to enforce or comply with. Challenging existing theories of institutional design, the volume helps us understand the logic that drives the creation of weak institutions, as well as the conditions under which they may be transformed into institutions that matter.
Download or read book State Building in Latin America written by Hillel David Soifer and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-06-09 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: State Building in Latin America diverges from existing scholarship in developing explanations both for why state-building efforts in the region emerged and for their success or failure. First, Latin American state leaders chose to attempt concerted state-building only where they saw it as the means to political order and economic development. Fragmented regionalism led to the adoption of more laissez-faire ideas and the rejection of state-building. With dominant urban centers, developmentalist ideas and state-building efforts took hold, but not all state-building projects succeeded. The second plank of the book's argument centers on strategies of bureaucratic appointment to explain this variation. Filling administrative ranks with local elites caused even concerted state-building efforts to flounder, while appointing outsiders to serve as administrators underpinned success. Relying on extensive archival evidence, the book traces how these factors shaped the differential development of education, taxation, and conscription in Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru.
Download or read book Is Geography Destiny written by John Luke Gallup and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003-08-04 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For decades, the prevailing sentiment was that, since geography is unchangeable, there is no reason why public policies should take it into account. In fact, charges that geographic interpretations of development were deterministic, or even racist, made the subject a virtual taboo in academic and policymaking circles alike. 'Is Geography Destiny?' challenges that premise and joins a growing body of literature studying the links between geography and development. Focusing on Latin America, the book argues that based on a better understanding of geography, public policy can help control or channel its influence toward the goals of economic and social development.
Download or read book Addicted to Failure written by Brian Loveman and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2006 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For supplementary documentation and useful websites, click here. This perceptive book critically explores why the United States continues to pursue failed policies in Latin America. What elements of the U.S. and Latin American political systems have allowed the Cold War, the war on drugs, and the war on terror to be conflated? Why do U.S. policies--ostensibly designed to promote the rule of law, human rights, and democracy--instead contribute to widespread corruption, erosion of government authority, human rights violations, and increasing destabilization? Why have the war on drugs and the war on terror neither reduced narcotics trafficking nor increased citizen security in Latin America? Why do Latin American governments, the European Union, and U.S. policymakers often work at cross-purposes when they all claim to be committed to "democratization" and "development" in the region? Leading scholars answer these questions by detailing the nature of U.S. economic and security strategies in Latin America and the Andean region since 1990. They analyze the impacts and responses to these strategies by policymakers, political leaders, and social movements throughout the region, explaining how programs often generate or exacerbate the very problems they were intended to solve. Reviewing official policy and its defenders and critics alike, this indispensable book focuses on the reasons for the failure of U.S. policies and their disastrous significance for Latin America and the United States alike. Contributions by: Adri n Bonilla, Pilar Gait n, Monica Herz, Kenneth Lehman, Brian Loveman, Enrique Obando, Orlando J. P rez, Eduardo Pizarro, Philipp Sch nrock-Mart nez, and Juan Gabriel Tokatlian
Download or read book Why Latin American Nations Fail written by Matías Vernengo and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2017-10-03 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The question of development is a major topic in courses across the social sciences and history, particularly those focused on Latin America. Many scholars and instructors have tried to pinpoint, explain, and define the problem of underdevelopment in the region. With new ideas have come new strategies that by and large have failed to explain or reduce income disparity and relieve poverty in the region. Why Latin American Nations Fail brings together leading Latin Americanists from several disciplines to address the topic of how and why contemporary development strategies have failed to curb rampant poverty and underdevelopment throughout the region. Given the dramatic political turns in contemporary Latin America, this book offers a much-needed explanation and analysis of the factors that are key to making sense of development today.
Download or read book Promessas N o Cumpridas written by Inter-American Dialogue (Organization) and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The volume takes a broad view of recent social, political, and economic developments in Latin America. It contains six essays, focused on salient and cross-cutting themes, that try to construct a thread or narrative about the highly diverse region, highlighting its main idiosyncrasies and analyzing where it might be headed in coming years. While the essays recognize considerable advances, they also point out setbacks and missed opportunities that have stood in the way of sustained progress. Strengthening state capacity emerges as a significant challenge.
Download or read book Left Behind written by Sebastian Edwards and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-06-15 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The political and economic history of Latin America has been marked by great hopes and even greater disappointments. Despite abundant resources—and a history of productivity and wealth—in recent decades the region has fallen further and further behind developed nations, surpassed even by other developing economies in Southeast Asia and elsewhere. In Left Behind, Sebastian Edwards explains why the nations of Latin America have failed to share in the fruits of globalization and forcefully highlights the dangers of the recent turn to economic populism in the region. He begins by detailing the many ways Latin American governments have stifled economic development over the years through excessive regulation, currency manipulation, and thoroughgoing corruption. He then turns to the neoliberal reforms of the early 1990s, which called for the elimination of deficits, lowering of trade barriers, and privatization of inefficient public enterprises—and which, Edwards argues, held the promise of freeing Latin America from the burdens of the past. Flawed implementation, however, meant the promised gains of globalization were never felt by the mass of citizens, and growing frustration with stalled progress has led to a resurgence of populism throughout the region, exemplified by the economic policies of Venezuela’sHugo Chávez. But such measures, Edwards warns, are a recipe for disaster; instead, he argues, the way forward for Latin America lies in further market reforms, more honestly pursued and fairly implemented. As an example of the promise of that approach, Edwards points to Latin America's giant, Brazil, which under the successful administration of President Luis Inácio da Silva (Lula) has finally begun to show signs of reaching its true economic potential. As the global financial crisis has reminded us, the risks posed by failing economies extend far beyond their national borders. Putting Latin America back on a path toward sustained growth is crucial not just for the region but for the world, and Left Behind offers a clear, concise blueprint for the way forward.
Download or read book The Economics of Contemporary Latin America written by Beatriz Armendariz and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2017-05-05 with total page 461 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analysis of Latin America's economy focusing on development, covering the colonial roots of inequality, boom and bust cycles, labor markets, and fiscal and monetary policy. Latin America is richly endowed with natural resources, fertile land, and vibrant cultures. Yet the region remains much poorer than its neighbors to the north. Most Latin American countries have not achieved standards of living and stable institutions comparable to those found in developed countries, have experienced repeated boom-bust cycles, and remain heavily reliant on primary commodities. This book studies the historical roots of Latin America's contemporary economic and social development, focusing on poverty and income inequality dating back to colonial times. It addresses today's legacies of the market-friendly reforms that took hold in the 1980s and 1990s by examining successful stabilizations and homemade monetary and fiscal institutional reforms. It offers a detailed analysis of trade and financial liberalization, twenty–first century-growth, and the decline in poverty and income inequality. Finally, the book offers an overall analysis of inclusive growth policies for development—including gender issues and the informal sector—and the challenges that lie ahead for the region, with special attention to pressing demands by the vibrant and vocal middle class, youth unemployment, and indigenous populations.
Download or read book Latin American Detectives against Power written by Fabricio Tocco and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2022-04-06 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines how Latin American detective stories portray individualism and the state through the figures of the private eye and the police. Fabricio Tocco argues that these portrayals constitute a far more radical critique than the one developed by the Anglo-American canon, culminating in a transnational “poetics of failure” rooted in dissatisfaction with the neoliberal state.
Download or read book Beyond Geopolitics written by Alan L. McPherson and published by University of New Mexico Press. This book was released on 2015 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction: New Histories of Latin America at the League of Nations / Yannick Wehrli -- Part One. Sovereignty and Conflict Resolution -- Anti-Imperialism and the Failure of the League of Nations / Alan McPherson -- A Dangerous League of Nations : The Abyssinian War and Latin American Proposals for the Regionalization of Collective Security / Yannick Wehrli -- Mexico and its "Defense" of Ethiopia at the League of Nations / Fabián Herrera León -- Non-Intervention through Intervention : Mexican Diplomacy in the League of Nations during the Spanish Civil War / Abdiel Oñate -- Part Two. Labor -- Europe-Geneva-America : The First International Conference of American States Affiliated to the International Labour Organization / Norberto Osvaldo Ferreras -- "To Raise Awareness of Difficulties and to Assert their Opinion" : The International Labour Office and the Regionalization of International Cooperation in the 1930s / Véronique Plata-Stenger -- Beyond Social Legislation : Worker Unity in Latin America and its Links to the International Labour Organization, 1936-1939 / Patricio Herrera González -- Part Three. Intellectual and Scientific Cooperation -- "The Spirit of Harmony" and the Politics of (Latin American) History at the League of Nations / Corinne Pernet -- Latin America at the Crossroads : The Inter-American Institute of Intellectual Cooperation, the League of Nations, and the Pan-American Union / Juliette Dumont -- Between National and International Science and Education : Miguel Ozório de Almeida and the League of Nations's Intellectual Cooperation Project / Letícia Pumar -- Rudolf Kraus, South America, and the League of Nations's Permanent Commission on Biological Standardization / Juliana Manzoni -- Part Four. Economic and Social Activities -- Discovering Underdevelopment : Argentina and Double Taxation at the League of Nations / José Antonio Sánchez Román -- Latin America and International Nutrition : Integrative Channels in the Interwar Period / Maria Leticia Galluzzi Bizzo -- Separating the Political from the Technical : The 1938 League of Nations Mission to Latin America / Amelia Kiddle -- Conclusion: The Distinct Integration of Latin America / Alan McPherson
Download or read book The Macroeconomics of Populism in Latin America written by Rudiger Dornbusch and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2007-12-01 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Again and again, Latin America has seen the populist scenario played to an unfortunate end. Upon gaining power, populist governments attempt to revive the economy through massive spending. After an initial recovery, inflation reemerges and the government responds with wage an price controls. Shortages, overvaluation, burgeoning deficits, and capital flight soon precipitate economic crisis, with a subsequent collapse of the populist regime. The lessons of this experience are especially valuable for countries in Eastern Europe, as they face major political and economic decisions. Economists and political scientists from the United States and Latin America detail in this volume how and why such programs go wrong and what leads policymakers to repeatedly adopt these policies despite a history of failure. Authors examine this pattern in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru—and show how Colombia managed to avoid it. Despite differences in how each country implemented its policies, the macroeconomic consequences were remarkably similar. Scholars of Latin America will find this work a valuable resource, offering a distinctive macroeconomic perspective on the continuing controversy over the dynamics of populism.
Download or read book Presidential Impeachment and the New Political Instability in Latin America written by Aníbal Pérez-Liñán and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2007-07-09 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Documents the emergence of a pattern of political instability in Latin America. Traditional military coups have receded in the region, but elected presidents are still ousted from power as a result of recurrent crises. Aníbal Pérez-Liñán shows that presidential impeachment has become the main constitutional instrument employed by civilian elites to depose unpopular rulers. Based on detailed comparative research in five countries and extensive historical information, the book explains why crises without breakdown have become the dominant form of instability in recent years and why some presidents are removed from office while others survive in power. The analysis emphasizes the erosion of presidential approval resulting from corruption and unpopular policies, the formation of hostile coalitions in Congress, and the role of investigative journalism. This book challenges classic assumptions in studies of presidentialism and provides important insights for the fields of political communication, democratization, political behaviour, and institutional analysis.
Download or read book Forgotten Continent The Battle for Latin America s Soul written by Michael Reid and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2010-08-18 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestselling primer on the social, political, and economic challenges facing Central and South America by The Economist editor and author of Brazil. Latin America has often been condemned to failure. Neither poor enough to evoke Africa’s moral crusade, nor as explosively booming as India and China, it has largely been overlooked by the West. Yet this vast continent, home to half a billion people, the world’s largest reserves of arable land, and 8.5 percent of global oil, is busily transforming its political and economic landscape. This book argues that rather than failing the test, Latin America’s efforts to build fairer and more prosperous societies make it one of the world’s most vigorous laboratories for capitalist democracy. In many countries—including Brazil, Chile and Mexico—democratic leaders are laying the foundations for faster economic growth and more inclusive politics, as well as tackling deep-rooted problems of poverty, inequality, and social injustice. They face a new challenge from Hugo Chávez’s oil-fueled populism, and much is at stake. Failure will increase the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants to the United States and Europe, jeopardize stability in a region rich in oil and other strategic commodities, and threaten some of the world’s most majestic natural environments. Drawing on Michael Reid’s many years of reporting from inside Latin America’s cities, presidential palaces, and shantytowns, the book provides a vivid, immediate, and informed account of a dynamic continent and its struggle to compete in a globalized world. “No one who seriously aspires to discuss Latin American politics, economics, and culture should go without reading Forgotten Continent.”—National Interest
Download or read book Violent Democracies in Latin America written by Enrique Desmond Arias and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2010-03-19 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite recent political movements to establish democratic rule in Latin American countries, much of the region still suffers from pervasive violence. From vigilantism, to human rights violations, to police corruption, violence persists. It is perpetrated by state-sanctioned armies, guerillas, gangs, drug traffickers, and local community groups seeking self-protection. The everyday presence of violence contrasts starkly with governmental efforts to extend civil, political, and legal rights to all citizens, and it is invoked as evidence of the failure of Latin American countries to achieve true democracy. The contributors to this collection take the more nuanced view that violence is not a social aberration or the result of institutional failure; instead, it is intimately linked to the institutions and policies of economic liberalization and democratization. The contributors—anthropologists, political scientists, sociologists, and historians—explore how individuals and institutions in Latin American democracies, from the rural regions of Colombia and the Dominican Republic to the urban centers of Brazil and Mexico, use violence to impose and contest notions of order, rights, citizenship, and justice. They describe the lived realities of citizens and reveal the historical foundations of the violence that Latin America suffers today. One contributor examines the tightly woven relationship between violent individuals and state officials in Colombia, while another contextualizes violence in Rio de Janeiro within the transnational political economy of drug trafficking. By advancing the discussion of democratic Latin American regimes beyond the usual binary of success and failure, this collection suggests more sophisticated ways of understanding the challenges posed by violence, and of developing new frameworks for guaranteeing human rights in Latin America. Contributors: Enrique Desmond Arias, Javier Auyero, Lilian Bobea, Diane E. Davis, Robert Gay, Daniel M. Goldstein, Mary Roldán, Todd Landman, Ruth Stanley, María Clemencia Ramírez
