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Essay on Neoliberalism
Essays on neoliberalism
The concept of neoliberalism
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The historian Ronn Pineo wrote “Beginning in the 1980s nearly all of Latin America began to take part in a great experiment, the adoption of capitalist free market economic policies.” (1) This great experiment began with the promotion of democracy and free market that promised a better future for Latin America. Neoliberalism, the economic ideology that promotes free-market capitalism, laid the foundation for many of the US military interventions and economic policies that caused a dramatic transformation of Latin America. This promise of a “democratic” government came from a policy initiative labeled as polyarchy. Polyarchy is “ a system in which a small group governs and mass participation in decision making is limited to choosing leaders in elections that are carefully managed by competing elites” (Lecture: Polyarchy and Resistance). It, however, was a sales pitch to continue Latin America’s subordinate position in to the global market. As a result, much of Latin America, by the late 1980 through the early 1990s, transitioned into this form of “democracy”. Consequently, Latin America suffered and still suffers today from underdevelopment, high levels of socioeconomic inequality, and immigration. Globalization of capital, off-shore production, and new technologies have created structural barriers and have With the removal of an authoritarian rule, the transnational oriented elites rose to power and have been given “ the opportunity to reorganize the state and build a better institutional framework to deepen neoliberal adjustments” (Robinson 180). Politically, the program changes the control of the political system to less direct coercive rule. Economically, it eliminated state intervention in the economy; this allowed the adjusting of local economies to serve the global economy instead of their
“Latin America includes the entire continent of South America, as well as Mexico. Central America, and the Caribbean Islands. Physical geography has played an important role in the economic development of Latin America.” (Doc A and Doc G) Latin America has many unique cultural characteristics, industrial products, agricultural products, and human activity.
Mignolo, W. D. (2005). The Idea of Latin America (pp. 1-94). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Peeler, John A. Latin American Democracies. Chapel Hill, NC and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 1985. Print.
In this paper, I argue that Neoliberalism is the product of an extreme leftist movement and US intervention that Chile’s former dictator, Augusto Pinochet who ruled between the years 1973 and 1990, used to transform Chile into an economic power during the wound down of the cold war era. This essay first analyses the US’s fears of communism taking root in Latin America and the extreme measures the US took throughout Latin America in brainwashing military personnel and promoting military coups. Secondly, I will identify and discuss the tipping points resulting from the left wing going too far. And Third, I will explain the contributing factors in the process by which neoliberalism was implemented in Chile by Augusto Pinochet as a tool to achieve his national project to remake Chile into a society that would uphold his values of private entrepreneurship and economic freedom that would keep the United States and Chileans at bay.
“Radical, Reformist and Aborted Liberalism: Origins of National Regimes in Central America.” Journal of Latin American Studies 33 (2): 221–56. Pereira, Luiz Carlos Bresser, and Peter Spink, eds. 1999. Reforming the State: Managerial Public Administration in Latin America.
To resolve any confusion before this paper launches into a closer analysis of the Zapatista rebellion, a definition of the term “globalization” is needed. Globalization, properly conceived, refers to what Scholte calls “supraterritoriality. ”[1 ] Scholte proposes that in a globalized world, territory and borders no longer matter or, at the very least, matter far less than they did in previous, non-globalized, eras.
There are many legacies of colonialism that impacted the development of Latin American republics. As well, many of these legacies still thrive throughout modern Latin America. A legacy that impacted Latin America and still continues to affect it, is the change that colonialism caused with ancestral knowledge. Before colonialism, many parts of Latin America were inhibited by many tribes such as the Mayans. As colonialism swept through these parts of Latin America, these tribes started to diminish because of the “growing and ecological strains”, when this occurred, tribes disbanded and ceased to continued. Now these societies which once flourished, has not gone back to the way that it once was. One of the most profound legacies is religion in Latin America. The Catholic church had a part in the development of the continent. Missionaries helped build premises such as schools, hospitals and other buildings which benefited the communities. Even with the help they provided, missionaries also did harm. They caused people to change the way the practiced their religion. The aspects of the way religion was practiced before changed for the worst. The people had to entirely alter how they practiced religion and by doing so, many parts of their true identity needed to be forgotten. Lastly, colonialism
In this book, subtitled Neoliberalism and Global Order, Noam Chomsky discusses a number of issues concerning neoliberalism, propaganda, free markets and illusions concerning them, more specific issues concerning Latin America, the ways in which democracy functions (or fails to function) in practice, and finally specific international agreements. This review will provide a broad overview of the positions set out in the book. It will then focus in more detail on three of the most important of these positions and arguments. Finally, an overall assessment of the book will be offered, as well as an evaluation of the author’s intended audience and his intent, including whether the material presented is appropriate for these audiences and intents.
Colonialism came to Latin America in the fifteenth century by the Europeans. They discovered three forms of civilization: there were the Mayan, Aztecs and the Incas (MLA, pg.13). After the arrival of the Europeans the nation transformed their cultural adaptations and suppressions. Before Latin American independence, three institutions exercised control over the population in Latin America. First, there was the Spanish crown where the colonist had to produce revenue and did so by putting a tax on everything. The government was universal and relatively efficient because it had to be in order to collect it’s taxes. Second, there was the Catholic Church, which had a strong influence on the people’s everyday lives. Lastly, there was there was patriarchy (MLA, pg.20). In Latin America, similar as to the most of the world, men had complete control over their wives. This was mainly about property rights because illegitimate children can inherit their father’s property. Though, it seemed to be made out as a way of purity. Nonetheless, Latin American society had a wide range of cultural blending. A new Latin American culture emerged mixing one whites from Spain, called the peninsulares, two, whites born in the Americas called creoles, three, Native Americans, and four, African slaves (MLA, pg.20). This caused a great deal of racial diversity and a social hierarchy. There were four basic racial categories, white, black, mestizo, a mix of white and American Indian, and mulatto, a mix of white and black (MLA, pg.19). There were constant attempts to classify and divide them into their own racial group. From the 16th century and on, Latin America had a huge diversity of mixed race people. During the19th, Latin America saw rapid changes in socia...
The consequences of policy changes in the last few decades of the 20th century, ushered in by the neoliberal movement, are becoming more and more evident. “Neoliberal structural adjustment programmes engineered by the IMF and the World Bank have been implemented in every country cross the globe, based on price stabilization, fiscal discipline, privatization, deregulation, trade liberalization, reduction of tarrifs, liberalization of capital markets, and the opening of economies” (Hemerijick 130). In this structure, transnational corporations have come to dominate the international political landscape in the 21st century, with troubling results. The workforce in various countries must organize transnationally as well as domestically in order to represent its interests, and with concerted efforts by several western democratic countries to legislatively weaken labor representation, many groups are having trouble doing that at home, let alone in a highly bureaucratized framework operated by capitalist and government elite (Tarrow 236237). The consequence of these policies? Opening up the competitive market for dominating financial interests. The method? Creating a quasipolitical structure that could not operate without the expertise and ‘consultation’ of transnational corporations, who often go so far as to help draft legislation adopted by actors in the international community, and then defend it to
Postmodernism is the 19th and 20th century reaction against the previously dominant western foundationalism, or modernism. Foundationalism is rooted in classic Cartesian philosophy: ontologically, an objective reality exists independent of our perception of this reality and we can gain access to it if our theories are logically based on some indubitable foundation. For Descartes, this indubitable, uncontroversial point of reference aligns with "I think, therefore I am." However, after each stated foundation posited the process of critical undercutting begins; we find no extant foundation upon which to build our ontologically relevant theories.
What is one of the biggest problems in Latin America today? Is it the slums that some people live in or the way poor people are treated? Both these ideas connect to Latin America’s largest problem today, the major income gap between the rich and the poor. When people think of Latin America in modern day some will think of the rich citizens who live prosperous lives, but many of them also think of the poor folk who live in slums such like the favelas of Rio. This might not seem like such a big issue to us, but for the people of Latin America this could not only affect their economy, but their politics as well.
The two essays, Dilemmas of Democratization in Latin America, by Terry Karl, and Constitutional Choices for New Democracies, by Arend Lijphart, illustrate the ways in which a democratic government can be implemented in developing countries. Karl and Lijphart are in agreement over the definition of democracy, depicted by their focus on the electoral system as a vital component of a democratic government. However, Karl’s argument ultimately weakens Lijphart’s by rebuking the idea of implementing a procedural electoral system, promoting the significance of context and a “path dependent” approach when a country transitions into a democratic government.
Seligson M. A., 2008, Challenges to Democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean: Evidence from the Americas Barometer 2007-2007, USAID
The question of whether democracy is sustainable in Latin America is a question that has been discussed in many books, classrooms, and in many governments throughout the world. If you look at the history of Latin America and study the different types of governments that have come and gone you will see that the United States has made many efforts to bring democracy to Latin America. There are many reasons why democracy has had difficulty dominating the governments in Latin America. Some of these reasons include but are not limited to religion, the military, the influence of communism, and culture itself. But there is not a text book answer to why only the opinions of authors and diplomats from around the world. Harold E. Davis stated in his journal article that “Democracy like dictatorship is not absolute. It exists in many different forms and degrees. It is a fact of history, not a proposition of theology.” (Davis pg. 45) I think this is a wonderful statement about democracy that can be applied to Latin America. (Davis)