This timely book analyzes the governing experiences of the nine major leftist governments in Latin America. The individual country case study chapters are preceded by chapters that frame the discussion by considering the theoretical implications of the Pink Tide experience relating to globalization, the state, and neo-extractivism. The contributors examine the Pink Tide policies and rhetoric that gained widespread approval and led to the long tenure of many of these governments. These included ambitious social programs, prioritizing the needs of the poor, nationalistic foreign policy, economic nationalism, and asserting control of strategic sectors of the economy. The book continues by taking a critical look at policies that have contributed to recent setbacks, acknowledging the inability of progressive governments to overcome embedded structures holding back economic development. One such setback has come from the opposition-often supported by powerful foreign actors-pressuring the government into making concessions and carrying out policies that ultimately undermined economic and political stability. With its balanced and thorough assessment, this book will provide readers with a deep and nuanced understanding of the complexity of the political, economic, and sociocultural reality of contemporary Latin America and the Caribbean. The contributors critically examine these policies, which were politically successful in the short run but eventually backfired in the form of corruption, bureaucratic waste, and economic sluggishness. With its thorough and knowledgeable assessment, this book will provide readers with a deep and nuanced understanding of the complexity of the political, economic, and sociocultural reality of contemporary Latin America and the Caribbean.
Foreword Boaventura de Sousa Santos Introduction: Latin America's Pink Tide Governments: Challenges, Breakthroughs, and Setbacks Steve Ellner PART I: THEORETICAL OVERVIEW Introduction 1 Latin America's Pink Tide: The Straitjacket of Global Capitalism William I. Robinson 2 Has the Pink Tide Cycle Come to an End? Will It Have a Long-Lasting Impact? Steve Ellner 3 Walking the "Tightrope" of Socialist Governance: A Strategic Relational Analysis of Twenty-First-Century Socialism Marcel Nelson PART II: THE SOUTHERN CONE: BRAZIL, URUGUAY, AND ARGENTINA Introduction 4 The Limits of Pragmatism: The Rise and Fall of the Brazilian Workers' Party (2002-2016) Pedro Mendes Loureiro and Alfredo Saad-Filho 5 The Frente Amplio Governments in Uruguay: Policy Strategies and Results Nicolas Bentancur and Jose Miguel Busquets 6 Kirchnerism in Latin America's Anti-neoliberal Cycle Mabel Thwaites Rey and Jorge Orovitz Sanmartino PART III: THE RADICAL PINK TIDE: VENEZUELA, BOLIVIA, AND ECUADOR Introduction 7 Class Strategies in Chavista Venezuela: Pragmatic and Populist Policies in a Broader Context Steve Ellner 8 An Opportunity Squandered? Elites, Social Movements, and the Bolivian Government of Evo Morales Linda Farthing 9 Left Populism, Democracy, State Building and the Ephemeral Counterhegemony of the Citizens' Revolution in Ecuador Patrick Clark and Jacobo Garcia 10 Neo-extractivism, Class Formations, and the Pink Tide: Considerations on the Venezuelan Case Luis Fernando Angosto-Ferrandez PART IV: CENTRAL AMERICA: NICARAGUA, EL SALVADOR, AND MEXICO Introduction 11 The Rise and Fall of Sandinista Alliances as a Means of Sociopolitical Change in Nicaragua Hector M. Cruz-Feliciano 12 The Limits of Change: El Salvador's FMLN in Power Hilary Goodfriend 13 The Last Surfer to Hit the Beach: Mexico and the "Pink Tide" John M. Ackerman Index About the Contributors
