Leftist movements in Latin America

Résumé du document

In the 1990s, a political tendency to the left took place in many Latin American countries, numerous leftist politicians came to power simultaneously. A few examples should be mentioned, such as Chavez in Venezuela, Lula in Brazil, Nestor Kirchner in Argentina or Michelle Bachelet in Chile. This outstanding change of political power was depicted by historians and political scientists as a global phenomenon of 'left about-turn'. We will examine this 'left about-turn' in depth and assess the current situation of the left in Latin America, going by specific examples.

Extraits

[...] To conclude, we've tried to enhance your understanding of the diversity and complexity of the leftist movements in Latin America. Then, the retraining of the SNLF enables to show the strong pragmatism of leftist parties in Latin America. In that case, this great change of what meant to be the hard-core of the ideology can puzzle us. Yet, that's how it works in the cynical, tooth-and-claw political game at the global scale. Bibliography - Camille GOIRAND, Les gauches en Amérique Latine: avant-propos Revue Internationale de Politique Comparée, Vol 12, - Olivier Dabène (dir.), Atlas de l'Amérique Latine, Autrement - Olivier Dabène, La crise centraméricaine en rétrospective Revue française de science politique, Vol - David Garibay, La démocratie prescrite par les autres : l'Amérique centrale ou les élections à tout prix Critique internationale, juillet 2004. [...]

[...] Then, shouldn't we distinguish between two types of left-wing parties in Latin America: a moderate and a radical one? Finally, regardless of the differences between the two types of left-wing movements in terms of roots, ideology and program, they are all very pragmatic. Once they came to power, leftist politicians accept liberalization and its noxious aftermath, set up neo- liberal politics and also admit the restricted scope of their social policies. Regardless of their speeches revolved around the idea of breaking with the past At first sight, we define Left as opposed to the right-wing. [...]

[...] They are neither institutional nor populist leftist movements, but rather fundamentalist movements, advocating a head-on conflict with capitalism. Despite their revolutionary ideology and program, once they come to power, many leftist parties recast their program, showing pragmatism, somewhat cynical. They have understood that to come to political power, they had to accept the institutional system and moderate their program. Let's use the example of the SNLF that illustrates extreme pragmatism. The restructuring of this revolutionary leftist movement into a political party that accepts the rules of democracy is quite telling. [...]

[...] We could mention a few examples like Chavez in Venezuela and Gutierrez in Ecuador. It seems pertinent to put forward Chavez's personal TV program, entitled Alo Presidente, which aims at praising his policies and representing the “invisible” people on the political scene. This TV program outlines the paradoxes of the Bolivarian revolutionary process. Should this program be considered as a mechanism of deliberative democracy, or more likely as a populist measure? It is quite hard to assess the scope of that TV program, since the boundaries between populist and democratization policies are subtle, and difficult to draw. [...]

[...] On the one hand, the boundaries between the left and the right tend to be blurred. For instance, many leftist politicians give up major elements of their ideology to achieve power. On the other hand, there is not just one Left, but many. One can hardly deny that there is a huge diversity of leftist movements, politics and ideologies in Latin America: the Chilean social- democracy has nothing to do with the Bolivarian revolution or Daniel Ortega's policy. How to classify leftist movements and parties? [...]