Dossier presentation: state, economy and social classes in contemporary Latin America

Estado, economia e classes sociais na América Latina contemporânea

Abstract

Between the end of the 1990s and the current historical moment, Latin America has undergone significant political, economic and social changes that, if they did not succeed in calling into question its subordinate status within the scope of international capitalist relations, did not fail to produce effects on : a) the mode of accumulation and the form of State consolidated until then in the continent; b) the relationship between State, economy and social classes; c) the structure and the historically constituted class relations; d) the existing political regimes and forms of representation; e) the economic, social and foreign policy implemented by the governments of the region, etc. At the political-electoral level, candidacies that presented themselves as critics of the free market orthodoxy and that were in a frank process of political isolation in the 1990s, started to obtain, with popular support, important political victories in the presidential elections of the 2000s, as attested by the victories of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, Lula in Brazil or Evo Morales in Bolivia. After almost two decades since the beginning of this movement, it is necessary to carry out a critical assessment of these political experiences that were built on the discourse that would constitute alternatives to neoliberalism. In this sense, the dossier State, economy and social classes in contemporary Latin America proposes to stimulate the elaboration of analyzes that reflect on the changes that have taken place in the last twenty years in seven specific countries of the Latin American continent: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. The dossier will include case studies or comparative studies, which are situated mainly at the interface between Political Science, Sociology, Economics and History and other related areas, and will prioritize works that carry out a more global analysis of the seven social formations indicated in the time interval that comprises the late 1990s and the present.