Latin America's Pink Tide

This text offers the richness of empirical details and the comparative project that seeks patterns and explanations. As part of the "Latin American Perspectives in the Classroom" series, it gives students at every level a comprehensive overview of two decades of Latin American political history; it is, however, also a valuable contribution to original scholarship on the subject. * Science & Society *
As the momentum behind Latin America’s left recedes, this important, cohesive, timely volume, edited by Ellner, a well-known scholar of Latin America, takes stock of the successes and failures of the Pink Tide. Separate chapters consider “radical" Pink Tide governments (Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, Evo Morales in Bolivia, Rafael Correa in Ecuador), “pragmatic” Pink Tide governments (the Workers’ Party in Brazil, the Frente Amplio in Uruguay, and "Kirchnerism" in Argentina), and the left in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Mexico. One of the volume's core arguments is that aspirations for structural transformation were severely constrained by the hegemony of global capitalism as Pink Tide governments largely maintained "extractivist" economic models based on commodity exports. However, despite these constraints, these governments sought to reduce social and economic injustice and succeeded, according to the authors. Contributing scholars hail from diverse countries, providing a wealth of valuable information for each case study. They effectively engage with questions regarding the implications of global capitalism's hegemony for the political economy of Latin America. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and professionals. * Choice Reviews *
Latin America’s Pink Tide is, without exaggeration, the richest and most complete overview of the region’s leftist experiments to date. The volume is an essential starting point for debate on progressive governments’ legacy. . . . Quite simply, it is required reading for anyone interested in the recent past, present, and future of Latin America. * Canadian Dimension *
A critical ethical theoretical framework for assessing the performance of left and left-of-center governments in Latin America during the Pink Tide. . . . Rather than see the dynamics of the Pink Tide governments in relation to right-wing restorations as the result of deterministic cycles, each reading takes a more nuanced approach by taking into account the economic and political context of specific countries and the balance of forces at critical junctures. * New Politics *
Beginning in the late 1990s, Latin American voters elected presidents who identified as progressives and socialists. Today, the tide has turned, and the right has returned to power seeking to undo the legacy of the past twenty years. These essays, written by leading social scientists committed to the process of change in Latin America, are required reading for anyone trying to understand the rise and eventual demise of the progressive governments that dominated Latin America over the past two decades. -- Miguel R. Tinker Salas, Pomona College
In a world swept by winds of change, Latin America’s plural lefts have built windmills not walls since 1998. This volume’s contributors are not among those who sit on the mountaintop, looking down on the battlefield, to appear when the fighting is over to lecture the survivors. This stimulating collection contributes to the future of living projects by those convinced that another world is possible. -- John D. French, Duke University
Latin America’s Pink Tide is now well in retreat. Finally, the book we’ve been waiting for: a measured, insightful, and comprehensive assessment of what worked, what didn’t, and why, by some of the sharpest analysts of Latin America’s left. Exceptional in its breadth—offering global, regional, national, and local perspectives—and impressive in its depth—anchored in rich empirical evidence underlain by convincing theoretical arguments—this book sets the standard for careful analysis of the promise and limits of the Pink Tide. Debates about the left’s accomplishments in power will long continue. But for anyone wanting seriously to engage with the legacy of those years, and what comes next, this book is a must-read. -- Alejandro Velasco, New York University; executive editor of NACLA: Report on the Americas