Since the 1980’s neoliberal reforms across Latin America have fundamentally rearranged the political, social and economic structure of the region. Populist nationalist states with state ownership of recourses and services have been transformed into to weak states that have sold off their previously state owned industry, services and natural resources. However this takeover by private and many times foreign capital was done with a well planned political cover (Harvey, 2005). This combination of privatization and deregularization under political cover is the trademark of neoliberalism in Latin America. Neoliberalism in Latin America has become hegemonic and has taken status as common sense, “the only way”, while alternatives to this have been met with marginalization and force. The first neoliberal reforms in Latin America occurred under the military dictatorship of Pinochet in Chile, he began selling off state owned resources and land to foreign companies in order to expand the private sector. Following the end of dictatorships in Latin America, in order to address the debt issue, further reforms in government led to further privatization and unregulated exploitation of natural resources. This new wave of standardized reforms planned by western thinkers from the IMF, World Bank and the United States government became known as the “Washington Consensus” (Harvey, 2005). These reforms were sold to the public as “good governance”, meant to differentiate itself from the supposedly corrupt corporatists states of the past, i.e 60's Mexico and Brazil. The key to the neoliberal model achieving hegemony was to present itself as rational, efficient, modern and democratic, democratic since neoliberal political parties where the first (and many times only) to emerge after the dictatorship era.
This Neoliberal structure continues to be the main obstacle to democracy and development in Latin America.
Part 2 coming soon.
where is the part 2?
ReplyDelete