Rethinking the Politics of the Shift Left in Latin America: Towards a Relational Approach

Abstract

The shift left in Latin American politics has revealed critical weaknesses within the dominant structural, state‐ and society‐based explanations concerning the politics of development in the region. This article argues that while elements of each remain relevant, there is a strong case for adopting a ‘relational’ frame of analysis that can capture the specific ways in which the Left came to power, and the unfolding implications for democracy and development. This relational approach focuses on how the new social and political economy basis of the new ruling coalitions and alternative geopolitical alliances shape politics and the prospects for development in the region.

Trade Openness, Economic Growth and the Global Financial Crisis of 2007–2009 in Latin America

“…Venezuela, with one of the more controversial political projects in the region, benefited from the boom in oil prices during 2000s; however, it exhibited moderated levels of trade openness as can be seen in Figure . Similarly, by the 2000s, in Bolivia and Ecuador, left‐wing parties were elected to be the alternative to face the challenge of delivering a genuine social transformation, leading the post‐neoliberal trend in the region (Hunt, ). This new political projects were accompanied by the emphasis on alternative forms of regional integration.…”

Untitled

“…The beginning of twenty-first century was marked by the reconfiguration of South American political and economic conjuncture, whose greatest expression was the so-called pink tide or left turn (HUNT, 2016;LIEVESLEY & LUDLAM, 2009). Domestically, the failure of the economic strategies adopted during the 1990s revealed the contradictions between the promises and the results of economic and trade liberalization.…”

Mundane disappearance: The politics of letting disappear in Brazil

“…Even Brazil's recent flirtation with counter-hegemonic politics, evoked in the rise of former president Luis 'Lula' da Silva, a man who evolved from a machine worker and labour organiser to be head of state, didn't reach the streets of this cemetery. Though many say that Lula started 'red', his political movement shifted decisively to the centre, becoming a darling of what became commonly called Latin America's 'pink tide' (See Hunt (2016); Blofield, Ewing and Piscopo 2017). Lula's trademark poverty reduction policies hinged on 'conditional cash transfers' and a greater flow of money to the households of the -quite literally -starving.…”