Читать книгу The New Latin America - Manuel Castells - Страница 15

Revolts against social exclusion and demands for multiculturalism and dignity are at the root of the political processes that took place in Venezuela, led by Chávez, in Ecuador led by Rafael Correa, and in Bolivia led by Evo Morales. Moreover, the four consecutive electoral victories won by the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT, or Workers’ Party) in Brazil, under the charismatic leadership of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva changed the balance of political power in the region. Building on the stability of the macroeconomic and modernizing policies of Fernando Henrique Cardoso (despite profound differences between Lula and Cardoso), the PT was in the vanguard of the process as it sought to further stabilize a new developmentalist state. The Brazilian emphasis on investment in productive infrastructure, together with an increase in public spending and a set of redistributive policies, was at the origin of neo-developmentalism in Latin America.

Argentina underwent a similar process under Kirchnerism, combining socio-political mobilization from the Peronist movement with a state that played a dominant role, which came to prevail over multinational corporations and to exercise control over financial markets as well as over Argentina’s economy more generally. Uruguay joined this effort under the leadership of President Mujica, a former Tupamaro militant who fully embraced democracy, affirming dignity and welfare and becoming one of the most respected political figures on the international stage.

Thus, Latin America laid the political foundations for a strategy of development organized by the state, based on the extraction of natural resources for export and the creation of productive infrastructures that would generate funds for the sort of public social spending that could improve living conditions for the population. Statism, productivism, and social welfare were expanded in a process of combined interaction that lent support to neo-populist movements and parties on the left and gave rise to a twenty-first century version of left politics. The success of this strategy, however, depended in large part on charismatic leaders and on the favorable new conditions of the world economy. In this way, a system of corporate patronage and domination was established that would later undergo a general crisis.