Suchergebnisse

Over the last two decades, military and authoritarian regimes in Latin America have receded as indigenous social movements and popular protests have demanded and won peaceful transitions to democratically-elected governments. Across the entire Southern hemisphere, democracy arose with a radical flourish, bringing dramatic changes in politics, education, civil society, and the media. Historically, revolution in Latin America has been depicted as civil war, violent conflict, and armed resistance, but recent social change has resulted from the political power of mass social movements reflected in elections and government policy change rather than guerrilla insurgencies. The Pink Tide investigates the relationship between media access and democracy, arguing that citizen participation in broadcasting is a primary indicator of the changed social relations of power in each country. Democracy has meaning only to the extent that citizens participate in discussion and decisions. This book demonstrates that participation in public communication is a prime ingredient in democratic action and citizen self-organization, a vital means for constructing new cultural practices and social norms.

Abstract
Political and social developments in Venezuela have significantly influenced the events of the entire Latin American continent in the first two decades of the 21st century. Our research, time-framed between 1999 and 2013, focuses on the political, legal, social and economic aspects of the Venezuelan society development at the end of the last century and the first two decades of our century. The article also examines how social movements set in motion by chavismo led, in 1999, to the adoption of a new constitution based on the principles of the separation of the five powers and how it contributed to the formation of the political movements across the Latin American continent known as the pink tide (marea rosa).

El Maizal's flag-waving communards are rapidly breaking down skepticism about the viability of leader Ángel Prado's election campaign, for it is undeniable that they are among the reddest elements in the so-called Pink Tide.

In this article we critically engage with the term and concept of "post-neoliberalism", delineate different meanings in the literature and arrive at the conclusion that the term leaves more questions open than it answers. We therefore draw on literature that investigates the departure from (or persistence) of neoliberalism on a careful study of social power relations, i.e. Barry Cannon`s work on the rise of the right in Latin America. In taking his arguments further we present and examine transnational neoliberal think tank networks that are active in Latin America. We show the extent to which these networks have been developed across borders, investigate the key linkers within these networks are and situate the main currents within the contemporary constellation of right wing political ideologies. The article strengthens a relational perspective in the study of neoliberalism and its counter-forces and indicates research desiderata in the field of transnational ideological power structures.

In the literature on the turn to the left in the wider Latin American region, Central America has generally been neglected. The aimof this article is to seek to fill that gap, while specifically assessing the left turn's impact on prospects for democratization in the sub-region. Using three case studies – El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua – the article questions the usefulness of transition theory for analysis and instead offers a framework based on state/civil society interaction within the context of globalization. Four key conclusions are made: First, democratization is not a linear process, but can be subject to simultaneous processes of democratization and de-democratization. Second, continued deep structural inequalities remain central to the region's politics but these often provoke unproductive personalistic and partisan politics which can inhibit or curtail democratization. Third, interference from local and/or international economic actors can curtail or reverse democratization measures, underlining the influence of globalization. Fourth, Central America is particularly revelatory of these tendencies due to its acute exposure to extreme oligarchic power and outside influence. It hence can help shed light on wider questions on the blurring of boundaries between state, civil society and market and its impact on democratization, especially within the context of globalization. In this way the article contributes to the analysis of Central America in the current context of the 'pink tide', underlines the importance of continued analysis of Central America for democratization studies, and brings new insight to debates on transition theory.

The purpose of this paper is to advance an argument that might explain the dynamics of recent political developments in Latin America. The argument is constructed as follows. First, I review the dynamics of what Raúl Zibechi (2012) has described as the new geoeconomics of capital in Latin America and the corresponding politics. The paper then elaborates on certain dynamics associated with the political economy of two types of capitalism, with reference here to the particular way in which these forms of capital are combined in the current context of capitalist development in the region. The third part of the paper provides a brief review of the economic and political dynamics that led to the pink tide of regime change in South America. Subsequently, we provide a brief review and analysis of the policy dynamics of the governments formed in the wake of this seatide of regime change and the associated progressive cycle in Latin American politics. The paper then turns towards the recent pendulum swing of electoral politics towards the hard right of neoliberal policy reform. The paper ends with a brief discussion of the forces that might be involved in what appears to be the end of the progressive cycle. The conclusion is that the answer can be found in various contradictions of extractive capitalism.

This volume examines the ways in which the socio-economic elites of the region have transformed and expanded the material bases of their power from the inception of neo-liberal policies in the 1970s through to the so-called progressive 'pink tide' governments of the past two decades. The six case study chapters-on Chile, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, El Salvador, and Guatemala-variously explore how state policies and even United Nations peace-keeping missions have enhanced elite control of land and agricultural exports, banks and insurance companies, wholesale and import commerce, industrial activities, and alliances with foreign capital. Chapters also pay attention to the ways in which violence has been deployed to maintain elite power, and how international forces feed into sustaining historic and contemporary configurations of power.