Right-wing Politics in the New Latin America

Reaction and Revolt

Edited by Francisco Dominguez, Geraldine Lievesley, Steve Ludlum

The focus for students of Latin America in the past decade has been on the political forces of the left and the so-called ‘pink tide’ presidencies attempting to bring about social and economic change in the region. However, there has been far less attention paid to the rightwing political forces resisting such change. Such opposition is being orchestrated by political parties, business, the private media and other social and cultural institutions and is linked to the ‘soft power’ of US diplomacy. In recent years its activities have often appeared to challenge the democratic process itself.

Based on a variety of original fieldwork and evidence, this volume addresses the current trajectories of right-wing politics in Latin America in the face of leftist governments, the discrediting of neoliberalism, and the decline of US hegemony. It includes chapters on US policy towards Latin America; the role of US-based think-tanks; the influence of transnational business and of the private media; as well as offering country-specific chapters on key states with rightwing governments and on opposition to left-of-centre governments in Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Chile.
 

Contents

• Introduction: reaction and revolt (Geraldine Lievesley and Steve Ludlam)
The continental right
1. The South American right after ‘the end of history’ (Guy Burton)
2. The United States of America and the Latin American right (Grace Livingstone)
3. Unearthing the real subversives: the US state, right-wing think tanks and political intervention in contemporary Latin America (Geraldine Lievesley)
The right in office
4. PAN Para Todos: elections, democracy, and the right in contemporary Mexico (Alexander Dawson)
5. Colombia as the lynchpin of US hegemony in Latin America (Diana Raby)
6. A right for all seasons? Right-wing politics in contemporary Peru (Francisco Durand)
The right in opposition
7. Venezuela’s opposition: desperately seeking to overthrow Chávez (Francisco Dominguez)
8. Multilateral lines of conflict in contemporary Bolivia (Andreas Tsolakis)
9. Right-wing opposition as counter-revolution: the Cuban case (Steve Ludlam)
10. Right-wing politics in contemporary Brazil (Marcos Costa Lima)
11. Undermining the new dawn: opposition to Lugo in Paraguay (Peter Lambert)
12. The new Argentine right-wing and the Cristina Fernández administration (Leonardo Díaz Echenique, Javier Ozollo and Ernesto Vivares)
13. The Chilean right in the Concertación era, 1990-2010 (Patricio Silva)
14. Conclusions: the challenge from the right (Geraldine Lievesley and Steve Ludlam)
• Bibliography
• Index

About the Authors

Dr. Francisco Dominguez is Senior Lecturer in Latin American Studies, Middlesex University. He has recently edited “The Latin Americanization of the politics of emancipation” in Reclaiming Latin America: Experiments in Radical Social Democracy (2009).

Dr. Geraldine Lievesley is Senior Lecturer, and teaches Latin American and Cuban Politics at Manchester Metropolitan University. Amongst her recent publications is: Reclaiming Latin America: Experiments in Radical Social Democracy (with Steve Ludlam).

Dr. Steve Ludlam is Senior Lecturer, and teaches Cuban and Latin American politics at the University of Sheffield. His recent publications include Reclaiming Latin America: Experiments in Radical Social Democracy (with Geraldine Lievesley).