Syllabus

The syllabus (press to open) is a document that includes the program of the course as well as maps and presentations for each of the 20 countries; the document also includes tables specifically designed to help you understand certain topics such as regional organizations.

Aims of the class

This is an introductory course for 2nd-year students meant to present the political study of Latin America. So as to comprehend current events and trends of Latin American politics one has to first have a comprehensive view of modern political history of Latin America. How else could one understand the election of Daniel Ortega at the presidency of Nicaragua in 2006 if not by a return on the Sandinist revolution? The debate concerning neo-populism can be understood solely by knowing the history of populisms in Latin America. This type of question will find an answer at the end of this introductory class.

Evaluation

1. Attending classes is mandatory (9/13). Active, engaged participation during the course and seminar will be graded. 

2. The final grade is based on:

• the midterm written exam (week 7) 

• the final written exam

•  To be eligible for that exam, students will be required to attend class and actively participate in at least 1 of the  seminar. 

3. Final written exam in person in June 2023. 

Plagiarism under all forms will not be tolerated and will be sanctioned according to the FSP-UB and UB Regulations.

Mandatory readings:

(1) Thomas E.Skidmore and Peter H. Smith, Modern Latin America, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010 (7th edition)

(The older edition, from 2005, 6th edition, can be found here).

(2) Vanden E. Harry and Gary Prevost, Politics of Latin America: the Power Game (5th edition) (Oxford University Press, 2014)

+ the articles for each weekly discussion - press each link below

Program of the classes

1. Introduction to the study of Latin America: terminology and approaches. 

2. Discovery, conquest and colonial administration (XVI-XVIII c.). 

Territorial divisions (Central America, Caribbean, South Cone…) and temporal. The concept of Latin America – “the Latin Americas”. Latin America today – the essential problems: a very diverse map. The Latin American panorama between stereotypes and realities (extreme inequalities, dictatorships and the military). The cultural Latin American model. The Hispanic and Portuguese colonial models

- The other colonies: English (Jamaica, Belize), French (Guyana and Antilles) and Dutch (Suriname and Antilles)

Refer to: Thomas E.Skidmore and Peter H. Smith, Modern Latin America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010 (7th edition), Prologue. Why Latin America? pp. 3-14. Vanden E. Harry and Gary Prevost, Politics of Latin America: the Power Game (5th edition) (Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. xxi-xxvii, 1-18. 

3. 19th century Latin America: from independence to the construction of new states

Independence(s): 1810-1830, and the recent - 20th c. - independence (Cuba, Panama). After the independence until the 1850s – conservative caudillos; after 1850 – the Liberals; the caudillos, dictators, etc. – the land of strongmen. The crisis of the end of the century – the wars (of Paraguay 1864-1870 and of the Pacific 1879-1883).

Refer to: William H. Beezley, “Caudillismo: An Interpretive Note”, Journal of Inter-American Studies, 11: 3 (1969): 345-352; Eric R. Wolf and Edward C. Hansen, “Caudillo Politics: A Structural Analysis“, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 9:2 (1967): 168-179; Simon Bolivar: Letter of Jamaica (1815), Angostura Adress (1819) 

Discussion: the dream of Latin American unity – the permanent utopia (from Bolivar to Chávez) 

Simon Bolivar:  Cartagena Manifest (1812)

4. Mexico: from empire, through revolution to ‘the perfect dictatorship’

-  Positivism and American imperialism - North-American interventions in Central America and the Caribbean 

-     The Mexican revolution (1910-1920)

Refer to: Skidmore and Smith, Chapter One pp. 42-51; Chapter Eight. pp. 254-295; Wayne A. Cornelius and Jeffrey A. Weldon, "14 Politics in Mexico" in G. Bingham Powell Jr., Russell J. Dalton, Kaare Strom (eds), Comparative Politics Today: A World View (11th ed.) (Pearson 2015), 432-481; Chapter 5, "The Transformation of Mexican Politics", in Stephen Harber et. ali, Mexico since 1980 (Cambridge University Press, 2008) pp. 123-160; Chris Gilbreth and Gerardo Otero, “Democratization in Mexico. The Zapatista uprising and civil society”, Latin American Perspectives 28:119 (2001): 7-29.

Discussion: for and against the border wall between the USA and Mexico

Said Saddiki, "The U.S.-Mexico Border Wall” in Said Saddiki, The world of walls, Saint Philip Street Press, 2020, pp. 83-95; Jim Norman, "Solid Majority still opposes new construction on border wall”, Gallup, 2019.

5. The beginning of the XXth century in Latin America

The years of prosperity (1914-1930); the Southern Cone; The First World War; reformism (Argentina, Uruguay, Chile); American imperialism consolidated (North American policies)

Refer to: Skidmore and Smith, Chapter Three pp. 69-82; Chapter Four. pp.110-122.      

Discussion: presidentialism in Latin America

Scott Mainwaring and Matthew S. Shugart, “Juan Linz, Presidentialism, and Democracy: A Critical Appraisal”, Comparative Politics, 29:4 (1997): 449-471; Scott Mainwaring, “Presidentialism in Latin America”, Latin American Research Review, 25:1 (1990): 157-179

6. Latin American populisms

From the crisis to the search of new solutions (1930-1960). The 1929 economic crisis; the imports substitution model and the industrial takeoff. The political crisis: military governments and populisms (Argentina, Brazil)

Refer to: Skidmore and Smith, Chapter Three pp. 82-98; Chapter Five. pp. 157-164.      

Discussion: ‘Populism of ancients and moderns’: classical populism (Peron), neopopulism (Fujimori) and radical populism (Chávez)

Steve Ellner, “The Contrasting Variants of the Populism of Hugo Chávez and Alberto Fujimori”, Journal of Latin American Studies, 35:1 (2003): 139-162; Kurt Weyland, “Neopopulism and Neoliberalism in Latin America: How Much Affinity?”, Third World Quarterly, 24:6 (2003): 1095-1115; Carlos de la Torre, “Populism in Latin America” in The Oxford Handbook of Populism, edited by Cristobal Rovira Kaltwasser et ali. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017)

7. Mid-term exam - mandatory

8. Cuba: a portrait since independence 

Cuban revolution (1959) and the Castro regime. The failure of continental revolution; the Nicaraguan revolution (1979-1990). Rural (Central America) and urban (Southern Cone) guerillas: differences and specificities

Refer to: Skidmore and Smith, Chapter Five pp. 121-149.

Discussion: Cuba post-Castro: a new model?

Camila Piñeiro Harnecker, "Cuba's new socialism: Different visions shaping current changes", Latin American Perspectives, 2013:40, pp. 107-125; Tim Anderson, “Contesting ‘Transition’ The US plan for a ‘Free Cuba’”, Latin American Perspectives 32:6 (2005): 28-46; Núñez Sarmiento M., ”U.S. Proposals for an Unwanted Transition in Cuba: A Critique”. Latin American Perspectives. 2014;41(4):147-163. doi:10.1177/0094582X14534598

9.   State terrorism of the military dictatorships of the 1960s-1980s in South America

The role of the military in LA politics; the National Security doctrine and authoritarian regimes

Refer to: Skidmore and Smith, Capitolul Noua pp.265-271; Capitolul Zece, pp. 302-304.

Discussion: From human rights abuses to reparation policies and transitional justice. Operation Condor

J. Patrice Mc Sherry, “Tracking the Origins of a State Terror Network Operation Condor”, Latin American Perspectives 29:1        (2002): 38-60; Katherine E. McCoy, ”Trained to Torture? The Human Rights Effects of Military Training at the School of the Americas”, Latin American Perspectives 145: 32 (2005): 47-64; Lessa, F. 2018. “Operation Condor on Trial: Justice for Transnational Human Rights Crimes in South America.” Journal of Latin American Studies 51 (2): 409–39.

10. The Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay): consolidated democracies?

The lost decade: the 1980s. 1989 in Latin America (Panama, Stroessner, Pinochet…); consolidated democracies?

Refer to: Skidmore and Smith, Chapter Eleven. pp. 306-348; Paul C. Sondrol, "Paraguay and Uruguay: Modernity, Tradition and Transition", Third World Quarterly, 18:1 (1997):109-125; Mainwaring, Scott. (1992). ”Transitions to Democracy and Democratic Consolidation: Theoretical and Comparative Issues.” Issues in Democratic Consolidation: The New South American Democracies in Comparative Perspective. 130.

Discussion: The Chilean constitutional referendum (2022): pro or against the reform?

Le Saux, M. G., “A Bumpy Ride on Chile’s Road to Change” NACLA Report (2021) 

Mauricio Morales Quiroga (2021), “Chile’s perfect storm: social upheaval, COVID-19 and the constitutional referendum”, Contemporary Social Science, 16:5, 556-572. Gabriel L. Negretto, ”Deepening Democracy? Promises and challenges of Chile’s Road to a New Constitution” Hague Journal on the Rule of Law (2021) 13:335–358

Jennifer M. Piscopo, Peter M. Siavelis, "Chile's Constitutional Chaos", Journal of Democracy, Volume 34, Number 1, January 2023, pp. 141-155.

11. Brazil as a regional leader

Discussion: Electoral campaign Lula vs. Bolsonaro (October 2022)

Paul Stewart, Brain Garvey and all., "Amazonian destruction, Bolsonaro and COVID-19: Neoliberalism unchained”, Capital & Class, 2020, pp. 1-9; Fabricio Chagas Bastos, "Political Realignment in Brazil: Jair Bolsonaro and the Right Turn”, Revista de Estudios Sociales, 2019, vol. 69, pp. 92-100. 

Wendy Hunter, Timothy J. Power, "Lula's Second Act", Journal of Democracy, Volume 34, Number 1, January 2023, pp. 126-140.

Documentary film : The Edge of democracy (Petra Costa, 2019) 

12. “Under US influence”: Central America and the Caribbean

Central America: between common history and specificities. The Caribbean: Haiti and the Dominican   Republic, Puerto Rico and the micro-states

Refer to: Skidmore and Smith, Chapter Four pp. 82-120.

Discussion: North American forms of intervention in Latin America – Caribbean and Central America

Watch the documentary When the mountains tremble (Pamela Yates, 1983) 

Skidmore and Smith 6th edition (2005) See above. Chapter Twelve, pp. 396-439.

13. Formal democracies: Colombia (drug democracy) and Venezuela (from corrupted democracy to Chavez)

Refer to: Skidmore and Smith, Chapter Seven pp. 191-218; Chapter Eight, pp. 219-243.

Additional resources: Ronald D. Sylvia and Constantine P. Danopoulos, “The Chávez Phenomenon: Political Change in Venezuela”, Third World Quarterly, 24:1 (2003): 63-76; Posner, P.W. (2021), "Reevaluating the Chávez Regime: Participatory Democracy or Rentier Populism?". Bull Lat Am Res. https://doi.org/10.1111/blar.13136; Gutiérrez D. JA. ”Toward a New Phase of Guerrilla Warfare in Colombia? The Reconstitution of the FARC-EP in Perspective.” Latin American Perspectives. 2020;47(5):227-244. doi:10.1177/0094582X20939118; William Aviles, "Paramilitarism and Colombia's low intensity democracy", JLAS, 2006;  Jennifer Holmes, Sheila Amin Gutierrez de Pinieres, Kevin M. Curtin, "Drugs, Violence, and Development in Colombia: A Department-Level Analysis", LAPS 2006; 

Discussion : The Peace Process in Colombia - the October 2016 referendum

Texts: Annette Idler, “Colombia just voted no on its plebiscite for peace. Here’s why and what it means” (Washington Post, 3 Oct. 2016); Michael Weintraub, “Colombia’s peace plebiscite: the case for Yes and the case for NO” (The Conversation, September 30, 2016); Dávalos, Eleonora, Leonardo Fabio Morales, Jennifer S. Holmes, and Liliana M. Dávalos, ”Opposition Support and the Experience of Violence Explain Colombian Peace Referendum Results,” Journal of Politics in Latin America, 2018 10, 2, 99–122; Juan Masullo and Davide Morisi, “Risks and Opportunities of Direct Democracy: The Effect of Information in Colombia’s Peace Referendum,” Politics and Governance, 2019, Volume 7, Issue 2.

14. The Andean countries  (Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia) and indigenous rights: Political drifting and political instability

The indigenous question reappears: Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru.

Refer to: Skidmore and Smith, Chapter Six pp. 150-190;

Discussion: economic regional integration – the European Union as a model?

- The end of the 20th c. and the beginning of the 21st c: neoliberalism and the Washington consensus; - new regional alliances: the American model (TLCs) versus the Bolivarian model (ALBA)

Skidmore and Smith, Chapter Twelve Strategies for economic development, pp. 351-375.

Vanden and Prevost, Chapter 7 The political economy of LA, pp. 154-187

Victor Bulmer-Thomas, “Debate. Regional integration in Latin America and the Caribbean”, Bulletin of Latin American Research 20:3 (2001): 360-369.

• Conclusions: Latin America in the XXIst century.