Fall 2018 - IS 329 D300

Special Topics III (4)

Social Political Change LatAm

Class Number: 8223

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Sep 4 – Dec 3, 2018: Wed, 1:30–5:20 p.m.
    Vancouver

  • Prerequisites:

    45 units.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Specific details of courses to be offered will be published prior to enrolment each term.

COURSE DETAILS:

This course will offer an overview of Latin American development, with a focus on social and political change since the neoliberal turn in the 1980s. Previously, the state had played a central role in economic development since the 1930 in a top-down and mostly authoritarian model of politics. In the larger countries of the region, focused on import-substitution industrialization (ISI), the state-centered model came to depend heavily on foreign indebtedness and proved unsustainable economically and politically. By the 1980s, the debt crisis forced a shift in the development model toward reducing state intervention, enhancing the role of private firms and market liberalization. Most Central American countries, however, remained focused on agro- exporting economies, with deep cleavages between landlords and peasants, often resulting in bloody repression and civil wars. Yet, democracies of varying characteristics have supplanted dictatorships and diverse social actors have articulated longstanding grievances in new ways. The region remains plagued by levels of social and economic polarization, which were deepened by the neoliberal reform.  Trade liberalization and biotechnology have led to new patterns in food production, dependency and crisis. Hence, some of the most important social movements in the region are based in the countryside. Since the 1990s, new political forces coming from a broadly-defined “left” have won political office or exercised hefty influence from civil society and tried to transcend the neoliberal model with varying degrees of success. New centre-left governments talk of a post- neoliberal development model, but they have also introduced a new impetus in promoting foreign direct investment in the extractive industries. To what extent is neo-extractivism a route to sustainable development or to a new form of imperialism? This seminar aims to familiarize students with the key characteristics of contemporary Latin American politics and society and to situate the rise of the left historically. Readings analyze a wide range of countries and draw from several disciplines in the social sciences and history.

Students who have taken IS 435 with this topic may not take this course for further credit.

Grading

  • Five Discussion Papers (DPs) 25% (one every other week, 5% each)%
  • Responses 10% (alternate weeks to DPs)%
  • Final Paper Outline 5% (due at 9:30 in class, Week 8)%
  • Essay Draft Presentation 10% (November 29)%
  • Participation 15%%
  • Final Review Essay 35% (due December 4)%

NOTES:

Students will be required to submit their written assignments to Turnitin.com in order to receive credit for the assignments and for the course.

The School for International Studies strictly enforces the University's policies regarding plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty. Information about these policies can be found at: http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/teaching.html.

Materials

MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:

 

 

REQUIRED READING:

Galeano, Eduardo. 1997 [1973]. Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent. New York: Monthly Review Press. ISBN: 978-0-853-45991-0.

Elisabeth Jean Wood. 2003. Insurgent Collective Action and Civil War in El Salvador. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 0521010500.

Gerardo Otero, ed. 2008. Food for the Few: Neoliberal Globalism and Biotechnology in Latin America. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN: 9780292726130. (Available as online resource.)

Henry Veltmeyer and James Petras. 2014. The New Extractivism: A Post-Neoliberal Development Model or Imperialism of the 21st Century. London and New York: Zed Books. ISBN: 9781780329925.

Lapegna, Pablo. 2016. Soybeans and Power: Genetically Modified Crops, Environmental Politics, and Social Movements in Argentina. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 978190215149.

Gianpaolo Baiochi, Patrick Heller, and Marcelo K. Silva. 2011. Bootstrapping Democracy: Transforming Local Governance and Civil Society in Brazil. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN: 9780804760560.  


Registrar Notes:

SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://students.sfu.ca/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating.  Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community.  Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS