Latin American Exploitation Of Peripheries In The Wst

n the beginning of his novel, Eduardo Galeano is notably known to be extremely critical of the United States’ and Europe’s interventions into South and Central America. Why? The very second sentence of the novel foreshadows and helps explain Galeano’s disdain for economically powerful countries. Our part of the world, known today as in America, was precocious: it has specialized in losing ever since remote times when Renaissance Europeans ventured across the ocean and buried their teeth in the throats of Indian civilizations. Galeano feels how many brown and black nations feel about the U.S and

This case focuses on Brazil's development strategy since World War II and on the change of the economic model following the debt crisis of the 1980s. At the time of the case Brazilian officials are deciding whether regional integration or globalization offer the best route to economic prosperity and development. This case illustrates the challenges that developing countries face in defining trade policy. It also introduces the role of regional trade blocks as an alternative to globalization. At the current time regionalism seems to be very much in vogue and seems to be much more likely to be the basis for future trade system changes than comprehensive trade treaties.

When the Europeans first arrived in Latin America, they didn’t realize the immensity of their actions. As history has proven, the Europeans have imposed many things on the Latin American territory have had a long, devastating effect on the indigenous people. In the centuries after 1492, Europeans would control much of South America and impose a foreign culture upon the already established civilizations that existed before their arrival. These imposed ideas left the continent weak and resulted in the loss of culture, the dependence on European countries, and a long standing ethnic tension between natives and settlers which is evident even to this day. The indigenous people of South America, which

Throughout this course I’ve learned that the relationship between Latin America and the United States is positive. The United States is known for their leadership with helping other countries rather than destroying them. Mexico almost always comes to the United States for help causing them to have a close relationship. There are two themes that stay consistent with US and Latin American relations over the past two centuries; first, the US desired to protect and expand their economic and strategic interest in the region and second US leaders justified US policy by portraying the region as hopeless and desperate for protection to save people from barbarism. According to Mark T. Berger, the actions of the US sustained and extended US hegemony

Many foreign policy makers in the western hemisphere and other developing countries often behave as if capitalism and democracy are inseparable. Nevertheless, there are some scholars that argue that the relationship between this political and economic systems are not complicated. Democracy and the market economy are two systems that are closely intertwined and mutually reinforcing or weakening. Since both of them are related to freedom. If one of these systems is strengthened , the other also strengthens and weakens if one weakens the other. Most Latin American countries, including Nicaragua have struggled to establish a democratic political system and have a capitalist economic system, since this so called “capitalism” is hierarchical,

In Poor Economics, Esther Duflo makes a cutting statement: “even the most well-thought-out policies may not have an impact of they are not implemented correctly”. She draws a distinct line between policies and politics and exposes how the latter can affect the implementation of policies. This post will exemplify such scenario with the implementation of the Washington Consensus (WC) in Latin America during the 1980’s. Latin America was immersed in a severe debt crisis. Governments were defaulting on payments owed to the IMF and the United States. Convinced there was a huge problem, policy-makers from Washington and the IMF decided to draft a 10-policy document that Latin American countries must follow if they wished to borrow more money in

Some of the views that seemed applicable to Latin America included the “view of capitalism, highlighting class exploitation” and the Leninist “theory of imperialism” suggesting that a privilege in the dominated country would

The turn of the 21st century brought about significant changes in global interactions, policies, and strategies. When examined more closely, it is clear that very pressing and shaping issues face many Latin American countries. In particular, Colombia and Cuba have prominent policies and strategies that greatly effect relations on a global, not simply a regional scale. As each of these nations address the many challenges to executing their national strategies, the manner in which their plans are executed must account for the limitations faced by not being a global “superpower.” In Colombia, the insurgency within its borders threatens to destabilize the relationship with two of its bordering nations. In order to accomplish this, Colombia must continue the path towards eliminating the guerilla armies. Cuba faces changes in leadership that have forced the nation to reevaluate its stance on a global presence which includes relations with the United States. These strategies also reflect a growing desire to maintain its strong allies, like Russia. In order to continue to reshape the nation, Cuba must take its new direction and begin implementation sooner.

We can related this article to our class because it shows the hegemony and global relationship between the United States and Latin America. The involvement of United States throughout Latin America was to prove its power over the Soviet Union during the cold war. It was also a way of ensuring the protection of its economically and political power in Latin America. Therefore when communism started gaining massive support in El Salvador, the United States called for its US train salvadoran army to eliminate the supporters. As the author of our reading, “The Hegemony of U.S Economic Doctrines in Latin America” states “ When Latin America strayed from the path of virtue, they have been reminded to get back on the straight and narrow by the United

They explain that during the last half of the nineteenth century, an outward-oriented period of growth started in Latin America, based on the export of raw materials to emerging industrial nations. Unlike the ruling classes in other parts of the world, the so-called oligarchic order in Latin America concentrated the resulting large surplus in the hands of small traditional elites who imitated the consumption patterns of European upper classes, rather than seeking to enhance their countries' education, technology and production infrastructure (Arocena and Senker 2003). In the late 1950s and early 1960s, industrialization failed to reach a point at which it was self-sustaining. While there were plants and factories in Latin America that could produce consumer goods, only a comparatively small wealthy segment of the population could afford to purchase these consumer goods as opposed to the large segment of the United States and West Europe populations. This restricted expansion of the internal market for manufactured consumer durables, and the expansion of manufacturing employment. Accordingly this did little or nothing to reduce inequality. Industrialization produced by inward investment and by internal consumption of expensive products could only be sustained in Latin America in a period when external funding was easy to obtain. This came to an end with the debt crisis of the 1980s. Latin

The 21st century in Latin America will be filled with a number of multifaceted challenges. As we sift through Latin America's rich history, we can find potential clues to how modern problems should or should not be handled. It's incredibly difficult to predicate with a high degree of certainty whether a solution from the past will be successful today. Likewise certain choices from the past shouldn’t be ignored just because they didn't work in the past. Therefore we shouldn't treat the past as a rulebook, but rather as a source of inspiration to guide us towards a more prosperous future. From the economy to the environment, Latin America's diversity will be both its greatest asset and burden in solving their 21st century

Latin America is filled with environmental, agricultural and culturally rich countries but unfortunately it is also the place where the majority of the countries have high levels of poverty and social inequalities. Latin America is the place where we find many natural wonders like the Amazon rainforest, the Andes, the Iguazu Falls and many other natural resources. However, the economic situation is one of the poorest in the world. According to the article, The Politics of Economic adjustment policy in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico: Experiences in the 1980’s and challenges for the future, and in, Latin American countries underwent the worst economic recession during the 1980’s. The distribution of incomes after the 1940’s was a radical change because there was a huge gap between poverty level and the elite members of society. After that point in history it has continued the same way up until contemporary times. The considerable difference in the income inequality and the high poverty rates is what interested me and in particularly during the 70’s and 80’s, which is known as “la decada perdida” or the lost decade. The lost decade was a time of economic austerity in many countries in Latin America and this is why I became interested in this topic. As a result, I interviewed my grandfather, Jose Gomez, who lived in Mexico during those harsh times of crisis that were affecting many Latin American countries during the 1970’s and 1980’s.

The overarching theme of Eduardo Galeano’s book was the exploitation of Latin America. Galeano argued that historically Latin America was exploited for welfare of both Portugal and Spain. Spanish and Portuguese explorers and conquistadors stripped the lands of the New World of natural resources and precious metals. Silver and gold were both precious metals that were highly coveted by European powers. Spain was able to promote its countries economic growth and develop business interests with in the New World. One of the places that were highly exploited was the city of Potosi that historically was the primary silver town in the Americas. Between the years of 1503 and 1660, Spain exported 185,000 kilograms of gold and 16 million kilograms of silver from the Americas to the Spanish port city of Sanlucar de Barrameda (Pg. 23). In the early 16th century Spain was a major power in Europe however in addition to being a major power in Europe they were also highly indebted to other countries.

Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress program kicked off in 1961, shortly after his inauguration. It was part of a new approach by US policymakers, influenced by theories of modernization, to guide the increasingly uncommitted Global South toward a First World vision of modernity. The Alliance for Progress offered millions of dollars to aid in Latin American development, and was also Kennedy’s primary tool against the vision of Latin America offered by Castro. The NAM offered a third option. The conference at Belgrade represented a shift on the part of certain Latin American states to explore a new possibility in the diplomatic arena. In addition to Cuba, as the only full attendant Latin American country, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Brazil all sent observers. Chile and Mexico received invitations to the conference but refused to attend, while Venezuela received an invitation to the Cairo Preparatory Conference preceding Belgrade, but it is unclear if they subsequently were invited to Belgrade after their adamant refusal. Costa Rica went so far as to publicly refuse a purported invitation to Belgrade. This chapter focuses on the emergence of Latin America in this new platform of non-alignment. While the intentions of each nation involved were unique, a deeper exploration of Latin America’s involvement with the Third World in this early stage helps gain insight into

The relationship between Export Processing Zones (EPZs) and globalization, Neoliberalism, global governing institutions and the 1980s debt crisis has attracted a lot of debate in the economic circles. It is widely believed that EPZs have helped in the development of the globalization project. Economists believe that the rise and growth of EPZs was enabled by the neoliberal strategies that global governing institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF instituted after the 1980s debt crisis in Latin America. In his book titled “Development and Social Change”, McMichael deals with critical events that led to globalization. These include Neoliberalism, the debt crisis and the rise of export processing zones. This paper will investigate these interrelationships and conclude that there is a key relationship between EPZ and the globalization project, and the rise and growth of the EPZ with the neoliberal actions of key global governing institutions especially after the 1980s debt crisis.