HOW TO READ MODERN LATIN AMERICA LATI 50

HOW TO READ MODERN LATIN AMERICA LATI 50 INTRODUCTION TO LATIN AMERICA

… and learn to love it!

CASE STUDIES �Mexico: The Taming of a Revolution �Central America and the Caribbean: Within the U. S. Orbit �Cuba: Key Colony, Socialist State �The Andes: Soldiers, Oligarchs, and Indians �Colombia: Civility and Violence �Venezuela: The Perils of Prosperity �Argentina: Progress and Stalemate �Chile: Repression and Democracy �Brazil: The Awakening Giant

ANALYTICAL THEMES �economic transformations induce social changes which, in turn, lead to political consequences �shifting alliances among social class groups give shape to patterns of political conflict over time �a country’s place in the international division of labor defines the shape of available paths to economic growth �differences in economic processes have produced different forms of social structure and patterns of social change

SOCIAL STRUCTURE � Upper Class: Urban (industrialists, bankers) Rural (landowners) � Middle Class: Urban (merchants, lawyers, etc. ) Rural (small farmers) � Popular/Lower Class: Urban (workers) Rural (peasants, campesinos) � National Institutions: State (including military) Church � External Sector: Economic (investors, merchants) Political (foreign governments)

CHRONOLOGY OF CHANGE �Liberal Era (1880 s-1920 s) Export-import development Oligarchs and strong men �Import-Substitution Industrialization (1930 s-1970 s) Industrialization Populism and dictatorship �Socialist Alternative (1950 s-1980 s) Revolutionary movements State-controlled economies �Neoliberalism (1980 s-present) Pro-market policies Democracy (of sorts)

COMPARING POLITICS � Mexico: Revolution of 1910 + dominant-party system � Central America and Caribbean: plantation society, U. S. influence, dictatorship and protest � Cuba: plantation society, socialist revolution, resistance to United States � Question A: Compare Mexican and Cuban revolutions � Question B: Trace colonial legacies in Mexico and CA + Caribbean � Question C: Why not more revolutionary ferment in CA + Caribbean?

THE MLA WEBSITE �Address: <library. brown. edu/modernlatinamerica> �Overall structure �Documents 35, 37