- Chasteen’s description of neoliberalism and the “Brick” (Economic Underpinnings of Dictatorship) Flashcards
what came after the Cold War in latin America?
neoliberalism
what did the breakup of the Soviet Union leave the United States?
the breakup of the Soviet Union left the United States as the world champion of capitalism
what did capitalism become?
capitalism became the only ideology in the world
what’s the political ideology what accompanies capitalism?
liberalism
why re the new generation of liberals called neoliberals?
because they are new, not because their ideology differs from the previous liberals
what were the three main emphasis of neoliberalism?
free trade, export production and the doctrine of comparative advantage
what did neoliberals embrace?
they embraced their faith in the free market
since neoliberals had faith in the free market, what did they do?
they sold off the state-run corporations and public services that nationalists had created all over latin America as declarations of economic independence
what did they do to capital flows?
they deregulated capital flows by removing nationalist inspired limits on profit that multinational corporations could freely take out of a country each year
what did they do to the nationalist inspired subsidies?
they removed the nationalist inspired subsidies that made basic food stuffs and public services affordable for the poor
what did their ideas however produce?
their ideas produced grossly unequal economic growth that eventually provoked a backlash
how did neoliberals gains some credibility?
by weathering the debt crisis that had started in the 1980s
what was another way neoliberalism acquired a sense of success?
by curbing hyperinflation
how did neoliberals halter inflation?
during the 1990s, latin America was heralded among US investors as a great emerging market, offering vast investment opportunities
what did US investment in latin America look like?
US fast food franchises sprang up in major cities from Chile to Mexico
what did US investment lead to the creation of?
it led to the creation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
what did the creation of NAFTA lead to?
one year after the creation of NAFTA Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay created their own free trade zone called MERCOSUR
what did Chile stand out as?
during this period Chile stood out as a neoliberal poster child
by the 1990s what did Chile’s economy look like?
Chile had low inflation, good credit, steady growth, and diversified exports
but just like anywhere else, in this type of economic who really benefitted?
the middle class
what was chile’s distribution of wealth like?
chile’s distribution of wealth remained among the most unequal in Latin America
in other words, what did the best case scenario of liberalism result in?
the best case scenario of liberalism resulted in giving the least to the neediest
what were the poor’s salary like?
most of the wages earned by Latin America’s poor went to basic necessities like food and bus fares
meanwhile what was the neoliberal reforms doing?
the neoliberal reforms reduced government spending a step toward balancing national budgets and reducing debt, but at a bitter social cost
In many ways, what did the neoliberal reforms resemble?
the impact of the neoliberal reforms resembled the impact of the reforms in 1870-1930
how did Latin America change under liberal rule and who ended up being left behind?
latin America became more modern in the technological sense. Foreign capital poured in, The lives of middle class people improved by the poor majority was left behind
by the year 2000 what did Latin Americans realize?
by 2000, Latin Americans were remembering why they had loved nationalist leaders who stood for the idea that the common people must not be left behind
even for middle class people, what changed by the 1990s?
the optimism of the 1990s evaporated afterwards as globalization failed notably to produce universal prosperity
gradually what started to happen in country after country in latin America?
gradually in country after country voters began to reject the neoliberal vision of free market supremacy by electing presidents who embodied nationalist traditions
