Social Movements and State Power: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador (repost)
Social Movements and State Power: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador By James Petras, Henry Veltmeyer
Publisher: Plu..to Pre..ss 2005 | 288 Pages | ISBN: 0745324231 , 0745324223 | PDF | 2 MB
Publisher: Plu..to Pre..ss 2005 | 288 Pages | ISBN: 0745324231 , 0745324223 | PDF | 2 MB
The 2003 electoral victory of Lucio Gutiérrez in Ecuador was met with the same sense of optimism that greeted the election of Ignacio 'Lula' da Silva in Brazil, and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Gutierrez's victory was viewed as a major advance for the country in its 500 year-long struggle for freedom and democracy. In Bolivia, Evo Morales similarly came within an electoral whisker of achieving state power in 2002, and in 2003 Nestor Kirchner became President of Argentina. Many journalists , academics and politicians speak of a "left-turn" in Latin America, characterizing these regimes as "center -left". They came to power on the promise of delivering a fundamental change of direction that would steer their countries away from neo-liberal economic policies, and towards greater social equity. Their success awakened major hopes on the Left for a new dawn in Latin American politics. This book challenges these assumptions.