Rethinking Development in Latin America: The Search for Alternative Paths in the Twenty-first Century

Abstract

In this article, we critically engage with the attempts to construct alternative, post-neoliberal development paths by left and center-left governments in Latin America. While there is a significant degree of diversity between these governments, their development agendas share the common goal of countering the neoliberal disembedding of markets and re-subordinating the economy to society through protective measures promoting social equality, democratization, greater national sovereignty, and regional integration. Within this broad objective, two main currents have emerged. On the one side, there have been attempts to re-engage with traditional problems of development, including economic growth, structural reform, state intervention, control of national resources, regional integration, and social inclusion; on the other side, a more radical sociopolitical project has attempted to develop a different path altogether for re-embedding the economy, one that separates development from its consumerist, materialist, and Western-centric associations of the past in favor of a new form of human development and societal transformation that has engaged with notions of democratic participation, indigenous rights, feminism, and radical ecology. However, over 15 years since its initial emergence, this social and political project appears to be reaching a new turning point characterized by economic decline and political disintegration. In this article, we take the opportunity to assess the efforts that have been made in the search for a new development model. We argue that while significant strides have been taken in the direction of counteracting neoliberal disembedding, the recent downturn has unveiled the cracks and tensions in the attempt to achieve more profound economic and societal transformations for re-embedding the economy.

Neo-extractivism, the Bolivian state, and indigenous peasant women’s struggles for water in the Altiplano

“…At the same time, the state is also conditioned by the appearance of neutrality that it must show to the working class (Block, 1987). Exemplary works by Gudynas (2011), Veltmeyer (2012Veltmeyer ( , 2013, Burchardt and Dietz (2014), Svampa (2015), Acosta (2013Acosta ( , 2015, and Sankey and Munck (2016), among many others, offer a comprehensive and critical analysis of the political economy of neo-extractivism and its relationship to the state. This new wave of extractivist activities were expressed as national development strategies based on economic, social, and political policies adopted by left and left-centered governments in Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela) known as the pink tide over the last decade and a half (Sankey and Munck, 2016).…”

“…Exemplary works by Gudynas (2011), Veltmeyer (2012Veltmeyer ( , 2013, Burchardt and Dietz (2014), Svampa (2015), Acosta (2013Acosta ( , 2015, and Sankey and Munck (2016), among many others, offer a comprehensive and critical analysis of the political economy of neo-extractivism and its relationship to the state. This new wave of extractivist activities were expressed as national development strategies based on economic, social, and political policies adopted by left and left-centered governments in Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela) known as the pink tide over the last decade and a half (Sankey and Munck, 2016). Neo-extractivism relies principally on foreign direct investment and it changes contractual arrangements with transnational investors, raising the royalties and/or taxes payable to the state (Burchardt and Dietz, 2014;Veltmeyer, 2012Veltmeyer, , 2013.…”

Trust in the military in post-authoritarian societies

“…For some in the public, the armed forces swept away corrupt and inept elected regimes, replacing them with the juntas of 'modernizing patriots' (Needler, 1969), which later led to theorizing on the 'bureaucratic-authoritarian states' (O'Donnell, 1978). The de facto governments embraced neoliberalism and capital accumulation for the elites, who cared little for resuming democratic life (Sankey and Munck, 2016).…”

Challenges and Dilemmas of Civil Society movements in India

“…They have created alternatives to neoliberalism in Latin America and saw future to move beyond the liberal state and the market economy. Their practices involve development of new forms of political engagement, economic development, and knowledge construction (Sankey, Kyla, & Ronaldo Munck, ).…”