The authors show how the consensual market oriented policymaking that characterized almost all of South America in the 1990s has now given way to something quite different. Polarization and intense political conflict have returned to much of the region. Although the Left has not always been the beneficiary of this changed pattern, the ‘21st century' governments of Chavez, Morales and Correa have been agenda setters. The questions raised by their emergence, style of governance and policy orientations resonate across Latin America and beyond. It is likely that the kind of politics with which they have been associated will be influential in the region for quite some time to come.
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"An immense contribution to understanding what is most
distinctive about the rise of the new left in the region."
European Review of Latin American and Carribean
Studies
"Brings the region's leftist politics into a fresh and serious
light. A middle ground for a more objective assessment of
socialist politics in Latin America was missing - until
now."
Global Journal
"Philip and Panizza's highly accessible opus takes a far more
nuanced approach to the question of plebiscitary democracy than do
US political scientists."
International Affairs
"In their highly detailed and perceptive work of comparative
political science, Philip and Panizza make it clear that it is time
to begin thinking seriously about a democratic future that looks
nothing like we once thought it would."
The European Legacy
"This book carefully dissects the politics and policies of the
three most prominent radical regimes in Latin America. It is
informative, perceptive and balanced and makes a major contribution
to the debate on the nature of the Left in Latin America."
Alan Angell, St Antony's College, Oxford
"George Philip and Francisco Panizza are to be congratulated on
writing this timely and much needed analysis of contemporary Latin
American politics. With their focus on the '21st century socialism'
of Chavez, Morales and Correa, the authors locate the return of
populism, economic nationalism and anti-imperialism within the
history of the region and within a comparative overview of the
'Pink Tide' of left-of-centre governments of recent decades. This
book will be essential reading for all those interested in radical
democratic politics."
Maxine Molyneux, Institute for the Study of the Americas,
University of London
Acknowledgements vi
List of Abbreviations vii
Introduction: The Triumph of Politics in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador 1
1 The Military and the Rise of the Left 13
2 The Politics of Mass Protests 41
3 Populism and the Return of the Political 68
4 Personalism, Plebiscites and Institutions 102
5 The Politics of Oil and Gas: Twenty-First Century
Socialism in Practice 123
6 The Fault Lines of Latin American Integration 149
Conclusion 174
Notes 185
References 194
Index 215
Francisco Panizza is Reader in Latin American Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
