Lievesley, G: Reclaiming Latin America: Experiments in Radical Social Democracy

Geraldine Lievesley is a Senior Lecturer in politics at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her research focuses on Latin American and Cuban politics. She is a member of the Society for Latin American Studies and the Cuba Research Forum. Recent books include the co-edited In the Hands of Women: Paradigms of Citizenship (2006); The Cuban Revolution (2004); and Democracy in Latin America (1999). Steve Ludlam is a Senior Lecturer in politics at the University of Sheffield. He has researched on labour history and politics in Britain and Cuba. He was a founder member of the Political Studies Association's Labour Movements Specialists Groups, and is a member of the Society for Latin American Studies and the Cuba Research Forum. He edits the series Critical Labour Studies. Recent co-edited books include Labour, the State, Social Movements and the Challenge of Neo-liberal Globalization (2007); Governing as New Labour (2004) and Interpreting the Labour Party (2003).

This book is a one-stop guide to the revival of social democratic and socialist politics across the region. At the end of the Cold War, after decades of neoliberal domination and the "Washington Consensus," it seemed that the left was finished in Latin America. But in fact new opportunities sprang up through electoral politics and mass action. Warning against over-simplification, this book offers detailed historical analysis of Latin America as a whole and country-specific case studies. From the anti-imperialism of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas in Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba, to the more gradualist routes being taken in Chile, Argentina and Brazil, "Reclaiming Latin America" gives a real sense of the plurality of political responses to popular discontent.

Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors Acronyms Tables & Figures Introduction: A 'pink tide'? - Geraldine Lievesley and Steve Ludlam 1. Is Latin America Moving Leftwards? Problems and Prospects - Geraldine Lievesley 2. The Latin Americanization of the Politics of Emancipation - Francisco Dominguez 3. Venezuela: The Political Evolution of Bolivarianism - Julia Buxton 4. Venezuela: Reinventing Social Democracy from Below? - Sara C. Motta 5. Bolivia: Playing by New Rules - John Crabtree 6. Nicaragua: The Return of Daniel Ortega - David Close 7. Cuba: Recovery and Change - Steve Ludlam 8. Mexico: Political Parties and Local Participation - Valeria Guarneros-Meza 9. Brazil: Has the Dream Ended? - Sue Branford 10. Brazil: Third Ways in the Third World - Guy Burton 11. Chile: Swimming against the Tide? - Patricio Silva 12. Argentina: Reforming Neoliberal Capitalism - Ernesto Vivares, Leonardo Diaz Echenique, and Javier Ozorio Conclusion. Nuestra America, the spectre haunting Washington - Geraldine Lievesley and Steve Ludlam Notes Bibliography Index