Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

A general overview of social and political change in Latin America, including revolutions, independence, transition to democracy, and contemporary social movements. Theoretical approaches may include social-movement theory, democratic theory, etc. Students who have taken IS 835 or LAS 835 for credit may not take this course for further credit.

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 agroexporting 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 postneoliberal 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.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING: