This popular introduction to Latin American politics probes behind the current events and reveals the fundamental economic and political dynamics shaping events and driving policy. Using the paradigm of politics as a game, domestic and foreign players are identified and the rules that govern their interaction are described. This analytical framework is then used in detailed analyses of the strategies of development that have dominated Latin American politics. Chapters are devoted to democratic reform, military authoritarianism, and revolutionary politics with detailed examples from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, and Venezuela. This third edition brings all national cases up to date, analyzing the rise of democratic governance as well as the challenges presented by unprecedented foreign debts. Special attention is given to the restoration of constitutional democracy in Argentina and Brazil, and a systematic comparison of the movements in those countries is developed. More information and analysis on Cuba and Nicaragua are provided and emphasis is given to the 1988 election in Mexico. New material on the foreign debt crisis, the Roman Catholic Church, and the armed forces is also given.

An examination of the historical events that have shaped Latin America's fundamental economic and political dynamics.

Provides an up-to-date analysis of many aspects of Latin America through a series of short essays, written by experienced geographers.

Latin American Development from Populism to Neopopulism: A Multidisciplinary Perspective explores the socioeconomic development of Latin America through the periods of populism, military dictatorships, neoliberalism and neopopulism by utilizing a multidisciplinary approach. By analyzing the trends and main socioeconomic structures in each period, von der Heydt-Coca explains the interactions of economic, social, and political spheres. Paradigmatic case studies complement the picture of each period and draw on extensive literature covering economics, history, sociology, and anthropology. Special emphasis is placed on how the world economy constrains the socioeconomic development in the region by examining the influence of international financial organizations and hegemonic countries. Von der Heydt-Coca answers the complex question of why Latin American countries, blessed with a bounty of natural resources and capable of industrialization, could not escape their role as producers and exporters of primary goods.

This book offers a region-wide overview of the patterns and processes of Latin American history, politics, society, and development. It provides a detailed country-by-country treatment and unique features of all Latin American countries.

Economic development has been an challenge facing the countries of Latin America. Because the United States, from the very nature of its geographic and economic relationship with its southern neighbors, must inevitably exercise a strong influence on the course which that development takes, it is important that North Americans understand conditions in Latin America and the attitudes of its peoples. Roberto de Oliveira Campos, former Brazilian Minister of Economic Planning, is in a unique position to evaluate both past accomplishments and future problems. In this group of essays, Campos gives a comprehensive analysis of many aspects of Latin American development in the mid-twentieth century. He examines relations between the United States and Latin America from a variety of angles, and he outlines the basic problems of economic development, of governmental policy, and of public and private administration. He gives particular attention in several essays to the relationship of foreign trade and foreign aid to economic development, and he presents a long discussion of the Alliance for Progress—its history, its purposes, its accomplishments, and its failures. Campos’s philosophy regarding the role of the state in economic development and other questions emerges clearly from these pithy essays. “The valid distinction I see on the basis of my analysis of men and things is between pragmatic or functional nationalists and romantic or temperamental nationalists,” he writes. “The latter confuse intention with results. They start with enthusiasm and end in fanaticism, this being, according to Santayana, ‘the art of redoubling efforts after losing sight of objectives.’ . . . Many [romantic nationalists], though they do not confess it, favor the dangerous purgery of revolution. “The pragmatic nationalist seeks to operate within the frame of democratic institutions and prefers reform to revolution. As to myself, I shall continue considering myself a pragmatic nationalist. I renounce the temptation of mobilizing resentment in order to gain the authority to plan development. I would rather strengthen the national entrepreneur than merely antagonize the foreigner. I would want the state not to do what it cannot do in order to do what it should do. I prefer to love my own country rather than to hate the others’.”

An examination of the historical events that have shaped Latin America's fundamental economic and political dynamics.

In the 1980s Latin America experienced its second worst economic crisis of the century; today the average per capita income is about 10 percent less than a decade ago. Because the crisis affected all Latin American countries regardless of their economic policies, the period has become known as "the lost decade in Latin America." In this book, eminent economists from the region reexamine strategies of development—structuralism versus monetarism, liberalism versus statism, growth versus equity—in light of new theoretical knowledge and recent economic events. The essays offer a complex interpretation of development problems and seek to explain how different schools of thought could be compatible and how old debates must be recast in the light of structural changes in Latin American economies. In addition, contributors critically review the adjustment processes applied in various countries. Together the chapters offer a penetrating analysis of what went wrong in Latin America in the 1980s and a careful assessment of economic measures and policies that might prove viable in promoting stable and growing economies, democratic regimes, and social justice.