chebol
26th July 2006, 06:29
Latin America: The End of An Era
Written by Mark Weisbrot, Center for Economic and Policy Research
Tuesday, 25 July 2006
Published in the International Journal of Health Services, Vol. 36, No.
4 (2006)
The changes that have taken place in Latin America in recent years are
part of an epoch-making transformation. To borrow from the Cold War
framework that still prevails in U.S. foreign policy circles: we have
witnessed the collapse of the Berlin Wall, and the formation of newly
independent states. A region that has been dominated by the United
States for more than a century has now, for the most part, broken
away. Of course there are still strong commercial, political, cultural
and even military ties; but as in the states of the former Soviet
Union after 1990, these do not have the same economic or political
implications that they had a decade or even a few years ago.
These changes seem to have been largely misunderstood – and vastly
underestimated – across the political spectrum. They are certainly
noticed. Hardly a day goes by without prominent warnings that the
region – or at least a good part of it – is on the road to "populist"
ruin, or worse. On the right – including the Bush administration –
this process is viewed through a Cold War prism, a Castro-Chávez-Evo
Morales axis that poses a strategic threat to the United States.
Imagined or implied links to terrorism and the drug trade (little or
no evidence is provided) are sometimes added for effect, as when the
State Department cut off arms sales to Venezuela on May 15 for "lack
of cooperation" in fighting terrorism.
The liberal/center views are less bellicose, but similarly pessimistic
about what is happening in the region. Foreign Affairs has run three
articles since the beginning of the year warning of the dangers of
Latin America's left-populist drift, as well as sorry state of
U.S.-Latin American relations. The news reports, editorials, and op-ed
pages of America's major newspapers mostly carry the same themes.
But from the point of view of the vast majority of the hemisphere,
including people in the United States, there is actually much to be
optimistic about. As French President Jacques Chirac noted during a
recent visit to South America, "there is a strong movement in favor of
democracy in Latin America, a movement that is growing." He added that
the newly elected leftist presidents cannot be cause for concern
because they were elected in free democratic elections. Furthermore,
there is every reason to believe that the changes of the last few
years will not be reversed, and that the region will continue in the
direction of further economic and political independence,
diversification of trade and finance, some regional integration, and
more successful macroeconomic policies. Not all of these economic
policies and experiments will succeed, but most importantly it appears
very possible that Latin America's long quarter-century of economic
failure will be reversed in the foreseeable future, and that its
hundreds of millions of poor people will be among the main
beneficiaries.
Rest at:
http://www.cepr.net/columns/weisbrot/2006_06_end_of_era.htm
Written by Mark Weisbrot, Center for Economic and Policy Research
Tuesday, 25 July 2006
Published in the International Journal of Health Services, Vol. 36, No.
4 (2006)
The changes that have taken place in Latin America in recent years are
part of an epoch-making transformation. To borrow from the Cold War
framework that still prevails in U.S. foreign policy circles: we have
witnessed the collapse of the Berlin Wall, and the formation of newly
independent states. A region that has been dominated by the United
States for more than a century has now, for the most part, broken
away. Of course there are still strong commercial, political, cultural
and even military ties; but as in the states of the former Soviet
Union after 1990, these do not have the same economic or political
implications that they had a decade or even a few years ago.
These changes seem to have been largely misunderstood – and vastly
underestimated – across the political spectrum. They are certainly
noticed. Hardly a day goes by without prominent warnings that the
region – or at least a good part of it – is on the road to "populist"
ruin, or worse. On the right – including the Bush administration –
this process is viewed through a Cold War prism, a Castro-Chávez-Evo
Morales axis that poses a strategic threat to the United States.
Imagined or implied links to terrorism and the drug trade (little or
no evidence is provided) are sometimes added for effect, as when the
State Department cut off arms sales to Venezuela on May 15 for "lack
of cooperation" in fighting terrorism.
The liberal/center views are less bellicose, but similarly pessimistic
about what is happening in the region. Foreign Affairs has run three
articles since the beginning of the year warning of the dangers of
Latin America's left-populist drift, as well as sorry state of
U.S.-Latin American relations. The news reports, editorials, and op-ed
pages of America's major newspapers mostly carry the same themes.
But from the point of view of the vast majority of the hemisphere,
including people in the United States, there is actually much to be
optimistic about. As French President Jacques Chirac noted during a
recent visit to South America, "there is a strong movement in favor of
democracy in Latin America, a movement that is growing." He added that
the newly elected leftist presidents cannot be cause for concern
because they were elected in free democratic elections. Furthermore,
there is every reason to believe that the changes of the last few
years will not be reversed, and that the region will continue in the
direction of further economic and political independence,
diversification of trade and finance, some regional integration, and
more successful macroeconomic policies. Not all of these economic
policies and experiments will succeed, but most importantly it appears
very possible that Latin America's long quarter-century of economic
failure will be reversed in the foreseeable future, and that its
hundreds of millions of poor people will be among the main
beneficiaries.
Rest at:
http://www.cepr.net/columns/weisbrot/2006_06_end_of_era.htm