Latin Americas Turbulent Transitions

Download or read book Latin America's Turbulent Transitions written by Roger Burbach and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-02-14 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past few years, something remarkable has occurred in Latin America. For the first time since the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua in the 1980s, people within the region have turned toward radical left governments - specifically in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador. Why has this profound shift taken place and how does this new, so-called Twenty-First-Century Socialism actually manifest itself? What are we to make of the often fraught relationship between the social movements and governments in these countries and do, in fact, the latter even qualify as 'socialist' in reality? These are the bold and critical questions that Latin America's Turbulent Transitions explores. The authors provocatively argue that although US hegemony in the region is on the wane, the traditional socialist project is also declining and something new is emerging. Going beyond simple conceptions of 'the left', the book reveals the true underpinnings of this powerful, transformative, and yet also complicated and contradictory process.

Download or read book Watermelon Democracy written by Joshua Stacher and published by Syracuse University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Egypt, something that fails to live up to its advertised expectations is often called a watermelon: a grand promise that later turns out to be empty talk. The political transition in Egypt after protests overthrew Husni Mubarak in 2011 is one such watermelon. Stacher examines the uprising and its aftermath to show how the country’s new ruling incumbents deferred the democratic dreams of the people of Egypt. At the same time, he lays out in meticulous fashion the circumstances that gave the army’s well-armed and well-funded institution an advantage against its citizens during and after Egypt’s turbulent transition. Stacher outlines the ways in which Egypt’s military manipulated the country’s empowering uprising into a nightmare situation that now counts as the most repressive period in Egypt’s modern history. In particular, Stacher charts the opposition dynamics during uprisings, elections, state violence, and political economy to show the multiple ways autocratic state elites try to construct a new political regime on the ashes of a discredited one. As they encounter these different aspects working together as a larger process, readers come to grips with the totality of the military-led counterrevolution as well as understand why Egyptians rightfully feel they ended up living in a watermelon democracy.

Download or read book Changing Course in Latin America written by Kenneth M. Roberts and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the impact of economic crises and free-market reforms on party systems and political representation in contemporary Latin America. It explains why some patterns of market reform align and stabilize party systems, whereas other patterns of reform leave party systems vulnerable to widespread social protest and electoral instability. In contrast to other works on the topic, this book accounts for both the institutionalization and the breakdown of party systems, and it explains why Latin America turned to the Left politically in the aftermath of the market-reform process. Ultimately, it explains why this "left turn" was more radical in some countries than others and why it had such varied effects on national party systems.

Download or read book A Turbulent Decade Remembered written by Diana Sorensen and published by Cultural Memory in the Present. This book was released on 2007 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is an interdisciplinary study of the major cultural and political scenes of a decade marked by dramatic -and sometimes traumatic--change.

Download or read book Social-Environmental Conflicts, Extractivism and Human Rights in Latin America written by Malayna Raftopoulos and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-12-07 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the issues of global environmental injustice and human rights violations and explores the scope and limits of the potential of human rights to influence environmental justice. It offers a multidisciplinary perspective on contemporary development discussions, analysing some of the crucial challenges, contradictions and promises within current environmental and human rights practices in Latin America. The contributors examine how the extraction and exploitation of natural resources and the further commodification of nature have affected local communities in the region and how these policies have impacted on the promotion and protection of human rights as communities struggle to defend their rights and territories. The book analyses the emergence of transnational activism in the context of collective action organised around socio-environmental conflicts, the infringement of basic human rights and the emergence of alternative and sometimes conflicting development models. Furthermore, it critically discusses why governments are often willing to override their commitments to sustainability and human rights to promote their development agenda. The chapters originally published as a special issue in The International Journal of Human Rights.

Download or read book Wars of Latin America, 1899-1941 written by René De La Pedraja and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-11-16 with total page 509 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The years 1899 through 1941 are remarkable even by Latin America's uniquely turbulent standards. During this time, border disputes and domestic insurrections forcefully shaped the history of this area, as many countries made the rocky transition from agrarian to industrial societies. This volume provides a concise survey of Latin American wars between 1899 and 1941. It compares and contrasts the wars and considers them in light of military theory. It also demonstrates how instrumental wars have been in directing the history of Latin America, and how the United States has often influenced these wars in a decisive manner. Wars examined include border disputes in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Panama, and Costa Rica, and domestic insurrections in Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Numerous photographs and maps illustrate the text and make it easy to follow every military campaign. The vivid narrative captures the human drama of the wars and brings to life the violent clashes of powerful personalities in unusually hostile terrain. Jungles, mountains, and deserts ravaged armies no less dramatically than combat, and the emotions the wars released make many episodes unforgettable. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Download or read book Building Democracy in Latin America written by John A. Peeler and published by Lynne Rienner Publishers. This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Publisher: Approaching the topic from within the general realm of liberal democratic theory, Peeler (political science, Bucknell U.) describes the processes of democratization in Latin America in recent years. Writing at a level suitable for beginning undergraduates, he presents chapters on democracy in the Latin American tradition, institutions for stabilizing and consolidating democracies, factors of destabilization and deconsolidation, and the current state of democracy in Latin America.-Book News, Inc.