Neoliberalism and the Left: National Challenges, Local Responses, and Global Alternatives
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2009
Pages
43–60
Editor
John Burdick, Philip Oxhorn, and Kenneth M. Roberts
Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan
City
New York
Abstract
One of the most interesting developments in Latin America in the early twenty-first century has been the (re)appearance of important political parties and figures on the left. The arrival to power of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, Lula da Silva and his Workers’ Party (PT) in Brazil, and Tabare Vazquez with the Broad Front (FA) in Uruguay delighted progressives region-wide while alarming conservatives in the United States, who see an emerging Latin American “axis of evil.” What surprised many about the left’s new-found electoral success is that until recently political parties on the left were often assumed to be moribund or irrelevant. Most scholars viewed the spread of neoliberal reforms in the 1980s and 1990s as the final nails in the coffin for left parties; some now insist that the new left-leaning presidents will not significantly alter the neoliberal market model. This chapter presents a different perspective, one rooted in the left’s experiences in city government. The local perspective helps in understanding how major parts of the left survived the neoliberal era, how many left parties changed their prior revolutionary goals of smashing the state to those of democratizing the state, and how they might still challenge neoliberalism despite multiple constraints.
Recommended Citation
Benjamin Goldfrank. "Neoliberalism and the left: national challenges, local responses, and global alternatives" Beyond Neoliberalism in Latin America?. Ed. John Burdick; Philip Oxhorn; Kenneth M Roberts. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
