This anthology of essays by well-known progressive Latin American intellectuals and activists serves a variety of purposes: first, to remind us of essential issues and realistic alternatives as we move into the twenty-first century; second, to challenge failed past models of development and current regressive neoliberal experiments; and third, to suggest new visions for economic, political, and social change.
The editors set out to expose the degrading conditions of poverty and misery, especially in the decade of the 1980s. They attribute that decline to the failure of capitalist development models and the neoliberal policies of international agencies dominated by the United States. They also show that the transnationalization of the economy worldwide has affected political power in the region. They argue that local popular movements that seek to change these conditions must seek coalitions and alliances across states and social classes. Their selection of essays is intended to confirm that alternative thinking remains significant in Latin America despite a tendency among many intellectuals to distance themselves from problems of social justice, inequality, and repression.
An initial selection of eight essays looks at the region as a whole, criticizes the bankruptcy of contemporary policies, and suggests creative new ideas for progressive social change in the millennium ahead. A second set of eight essays examines the crises and future possibilities in particular countries: Brazil, Cuba, El Salvador, Haiti, Mexico, and Uruguay.
Among the regional papers, Franz Hinkelammert distinguishes between state and market in a perceptive analysis that examines the role of the state based on a reconstructed civil society. He identifies the problems of unregulated markets and shows that the state must open up the development of civil society as well as plan for economic development. Without the state, he argues, controlled democracies are emerging today in Latin America where concentrated economic interests control the means of communication, and armies and international financial institutions represent governments.
Jaime Osorio focuses on the individual in an assessment of liberalism and democracy by tracing the origins and contradictions in terminology that today characterize liberal democracy. Rui Mauro Marini synthesizes unsuccessful Latin American efforts to unify, arguing that no Latin American country can stand on its own and face the superstates. Lucrecia Lozano examines policies of adjustment and evolving democracy and notes a paradox: formal democracy has established itself as a political model, yet it has not generated fair and just societies. With the lack of social reforms to resolve economic inequality and social injustice, the call for revolutionary struggle persists today. Marta Harnacker delves into socialism, its past problems and future prospects, in relation to three forms of democracy: political, social, and participatory. She outlines possibilities for a revolutionary democracy based on a new leftist culture linked to political and ideological pluralism, national traditions, popular involvement, and abandonment of hegemonism and sectarianism. Other essays include those by Guillermo Delgado P. on ethnic politics and the popular movement, Isabel Larguía on political feminism, and Carlos Villas on a new socialist agenda.
The country-specific essays include analyses of particular crises: Emir Sader on various scenarios for Brazil; Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas on the need for an equitable agreement between Mexico and the United States on development and trade; Ana Cristina Laurell on an alternative social policy for public services in Mexico; Mario Lungo Uclés on redefining democracy in El Salvador; Suzy Castor on structures of domination and resistance to change in Haiti; Luis Stolovich on the paradoxes of the Left in Uruguay; Juan José Blanco and Pablo González Casanova on the current crisis in Cuba.
The collection’s emphasis on major themes and issues that pervade Latin America and on perspectives manifested by prominent Latin American intellectuals is refreshing and provocative. This book should be used widely in the classroom; students will be drawn to its content and motivated to understand more deeply the area’s problems.
