Legacies of the Left Turn in Latin America - (Kellogg Institute Democracy and Development) by Manuel Balán & Françoise Montambeault (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Legacies of the Left Turn in Latin America: The Promise of Inclusive Citizenship contains original essays by a diverse group of leading and emerging scholars from North America, Europe, and Latin America. The book speaks to wide-ranging debates on democracy, the left, and citizenship in Latin America. What were the effects of a decade and a half of left and center-left governments? The central purpose of this book is to evaluate both the positive and negative effects of the Left turn on state-society relations and inclusion.

Promises of social inclusion and the expansion of citizenship rights were paramount to the center-left discourses upon the factions' arrival to power in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This book is a first step in understanding to what extent these initial promises were or were not fulfilled, and why. In analyzing these issues, the authors demonstrate that these years yield both signs of progress in some areas and the deepening of historical problems in others. The contributors to this book reveal variation among and within countries, and across policy and issue areas such as democratic institution reforms, human rights, minorities' rights, environmental questions, and violence. This focus on issues rather than countries distinguishes the book from other recent volumes on the left in Latin America, and the book will speak to a broad and multi-dimensional audience, both inside and outside the academic world.

Contributors: Manuel Balán, Françoise Montambeault, Philip Oxhorn, Maxwell A. Cameron, Kenneth M. Roberts, Nathalia Sandoval-Rojas, Daniel M. Brinks, Benjamin Goldfrank, Roberta Rice, Elizabeth Jelin, Celina Van Dembroucke, Nora Nagels, Merike Blofield, Jordi Díez, Eve Bratman, Gabriel Kessler, Olivier Dabène, Jared Abbott, Steve Levitsky

Review Quotes

"Legacies of the Left Turn in Latin America provides a nuanced and comprehensive analysis of the effects of left-of-center governments on social inclusion in the region by a star-studded group of contributors. The authors find that leftist governments have had a mixed record at best and that many of the hopes of the left have gone unfulfilled. This book is essential reading for anyone who is interested in the Latin American left or social inequality in the region." --Raúl L. Madrid, University of Texas at Austin

"Given the quality of the contributors to this book, it is no surprise that the level of scholarship is high throughout. This is a highly readable book, and one that promises to be relevant to a broad range of academics in the social sciences." --John Polga-Hecimovich, United States Naval Academy

"Has Latin America's recent turn to the left achieved its main goal of promoting inclusive citizenship? Through careful, thorough analyses of a wide range of policy areas and countries, a great group of scholars finds only partial success. There were important advances, but also significant limitations and setbacks, due to goal conflicts, economic imperatives, and political constraints. Highly recommended as a balanced assessment of the "pink tide"!" --Kurt Weyland, University of Texas at Austin

"This book is a must read for anyone seeking to understand Latin America. It will surely become an essential academic reference for evaluating the legacies of the Latin American Left. With contributions from distinguished scholars, this edited volume provides the most nuanced and detailed view of the complexity of this phenomenon. It analyzes an array of crucial policy dimensions with a careful evaluation of advances, limitations, as well as the variety of experiences that generate distinct legacies across the region." --Maria Victoria Murillo, Director of the Institute of Latin American Studies, Columbia University

"This excellent volume makes an important, early contribution to our understanding of the consequences of Latin America's Left turn. The chapters paint an appropriately nuanced picture of what changed in the exercise of citizenship and what did not, eschewing facile conclusions and embracing complexity." --Kent Eaton, University of California, Santa Cruz

"Two decades ago, Latin America took a dramatic turn to the Left of the political spectrum as the so-called 'Pink Tide' swept across the region, ushering in governments that pursued radically different economic and social policies from their predecessors. Today that tide has mostly receded, and this collection takes stock of what went well, what did not, and what lasting effects the turn to the Left will have on Latin America." --Choice

About the Author

Manuel Balán is an associate professor of political science at McGill University.

Françoise Montambeault is an associate professor of political science at the University of Montreal.