Latin America Pushes Left
The United States has always taken the stance that communism and extreme leftist parties do not succeed. In history these regimes have come about through drastic change and ruled in a repressive manner, which ultimately lead to their downfall. In Latin America leftist parties came about though a different method involving and maintaining democratic practices, which led to their success. This form of leftist government is different than the previous ones that resulted in failure.
This week the two reading that had been assigned were the introduction and chapter thirteen from the book, The Resurgence of the Latin American Left, by Levitsky, Steven, K. R.. These chapters summarized how the left was able to come to power in Latin America during the late 1990s and early 2000s. The Washington Consensus called for the adoption of many neoliberal reforms that ultimately stabilized the economy at the expense of increasing inequality and discontent over privatization. It was during the economic crisis that lasted from 1998 to 2002 that caused citizens to want change in the economic system and weaken their support for incumbents. One example can be seen with the case of Brazil. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the leader of the leftist party, was elected during a time which Brazil was experiencing inequality and economic crisis. Although he was part of the leftist party he chose to continue orthodoxy in the macroeconomic policy because it did help maintain stability and lower inflation rates. One of the main leftist contributions of Lula was his social assistance program, Bolsa Family Conditional Cash Transfer. This called for increasing the incomes of the poorest Brazilians and establishing a social safety net for impoverished families.
Russia had an authoritarian style of government prior to the establishment of the USSR. These two forms of government were drastically different and the transition from authoritarianism to socialism was radical and violent. Under this form of leftist government the people of Russia were strictly suppressed and did not have many rights afforded to them. This lead to the population becoming dissatisfied and the eventual collapse of the USSR. One of the main differences the left leaning parties coming into control in Latin America had was that they did not establish a complete socialist government but used some socialist ideas and incorporated them into their democratic form of government. This actually represented democracy becoming stronger because these leftist parties represented the push away from leftover authoritarian practices. The leftist change that occurred in Latin American countries occurred more gradually and not as intensely allowing it to be more successful. The countries had already had some form of democratic government that became more left leaning. These leftist parties allowed citizens to maintain rights and power, which was not afforded to those in the USSR. If they had been focused more changing the government in its entirety to adopt more leftist practices I am sure they would have been met with opposition, as the USSR had, from the United States.
From this reading one can conclude that leftist parties and values do not always lead to unsuccessful repressive regimes. Implementing complete socialist values may lead to governmental failure but incorporating some ideals into a democratic form of government may actually be prosperous for a nation. In the book The Resurgence of the Latin American Left, the authors explain how and why leftist parties came into power. The book uses the example of Brazil to show the how the leftist party maintained working programs from previous parties but also implemented new social programs that align more with their party’s values. This goes to show that the left ideals the United States once feared do not always have negative effects.
Work Cited
Levitsky, Steven, K. R. (2011). Latin America’s left turn: A framework for analysis. The Resurgence of the Latin American Left, pages 1–30
†Hunter, W. (2011). The pt in power. The Resurgence of the Latin American Left, pages 306–324
“USSR Established.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2016.