History of Latin America: Neo-Liberalism - Term Paper Example

History of Latin America: Neo-Liberalism Introduction The recent years have witnessed Latin America desire to undergo drastic transitions universally, in the form of Neo-liberalism. Significant inroads have been developed via the utilization of the ideology and practice in the countries in terms of development, social and economic relations, as well as the trade realms. A budge from strategies that are inward-oriented to outward-oriented ones constitutes the Neoliberalism approach of the economy. In addition, far-reaching implications are often associated with this approach specifically in Latin America for both economic management, as well as political stabilizations in addition to societal organizations and Cultural dynamics. Neoliberalism policies put into consideration the development of globalization as well as modernization aspects in the nation via development of integrated free markets. Privatization is also given credit in the aspect of neo-liberalism development in Latin America in order to create a shift of economic responsibility from the government as well as corporations into self-indulgence and accountability. Canada, Chile, and Australia are also among those nations that have recently tried to adopt the Ne0-libearl approach in the economic stabilization strategies (Phillips xi). The discussion in this paper investigates into the history of Latin America, mainly focusing on the Neo-liberalism issue that has recently been emphasized on in the country. The understanding of this will be boosted by the provision of an overview of the history of Latin America and the concrete definitions of Neo-Liberalism approaches. A critical and a positive perspective of Neo-liberalism will be closely examined and the merits of the critical one over the positive one be viewed. The functional potential of Neo-liberalism is deemed crucial for discussion at this juncture. 2.0 An overview of history of Latin America Latin America, being one of the most famous and prominent countries in the world has a kind of memorable history. It is characterized by various events that have helped shape the future of the country up to date. It was among the first states to gain full independence on the early 19th century, and at the same time facing tremendous events, whose end marked the beginning of progress. First, the country faced the challenge of colonization by British and other forces who caused the country’ freedom to be deprived. The kind has played a pivotal role in the proposition of new strategies implementation, which include Neo-liberalism economic approaches (Phillips xii). It is also marked by the presence of different ethnic communities in the land who also had conflicting ideas about progress, civilization, as well as freedom. Furthermore, the economic, political, and social status has definitely developed poorly, creating the need for some critical attention. More important, the Latin America was not an exception when it came to the world wars which touched almost all European states, since they participated in the first and the second world wars as well as the cold wars, events that awakened them to stand strategically in the recent years to reconstruct the distorted economy. Neoliberalism approach has been adopted historically in the country, though its propositions have rampantly acted as sources of conflicts in regards to the social, political and economic realms. Therefore, economic stabilization attempts have sometimes proved impossible to accomplish and up to this point, their functional potential deems impossible since it is not easy for privatization of the economy with ease. Thus, the historical times have found the Americans busy trying to establish the best strategies for approaching Neo-liberalism (Phillips xiii). Defining Neoliberalism Neo-liberalism offers a detailed description of an approach that is market-driven that creates a rationale for social, political and economic policies implementation. These approaches are based on the propositions of the economical neoclassical theories, which emphasize on the effectiveness of private enterprises in economic stabilization efforts. The stress is also on the liberalization of the trade links in addition to the promotion of open markets, seeking to maximize the private sector role in the determination of economic and political state priorities. Cultural studies have also been utilized in the description of Neoliberalism as an ideological paradigm that leads to utilization of appropriate strategies to stabilize the markets. The strategies, policies, and practices utilized are inclusive of market language, choice of consumers and efficiency measures in addition to individual sovereignty and transactional opinions (Phillips xiii). The utilization of Neoliberalism are geared towards the eradication of negative implications in the economy of the country in which are inclusive of corruption, degradation of the environment as well as unregulated markets and exploitation of labour force. The history of the Neoliberlistic approach dates back in the periods at the end of the world wars, due to the arising requirements of the global economy that is non-communist-based. The policy implications of such policies affect the fiscal policies that have been developed in history to cater for economic control protocols in the American continent. Tax, liberal and trade realms as well as the government and subsidies spending criterion are as well affected by the neo-liberalism activities (Keen 498). Examination of two perspectives A cluster of Neo-liberalism perspectives are in existence in the economic realms. They are inclusive of critical as well as positive perspectives that are deemed to drive the Neoliberalism approach. The main positive perspective of the Neo-liberalism is the enhancement of freedom in the social, political, as well as social realms. This is boosted due to creation of free markets based on market language as well as customer choices in addition to individual autonomic characteristics and transactional reasoning. The critical perspective that has been developed by philosophers in regards to its promotion of economic inequality. This is in a bid to promotion of low wages for those workers from other states. The Neoliberalism approach has always promoted oppression in terms of labour force, where immigrants from Mexico and other areas are paid low wages for work done by the Americans (Keen 499). The merits of critical perspective over the positive perspective The critical perspective has several advantages over the positive perspective, since adoption of Neo-liberalism approach is not easy as compared too the centralized economy. This stands out in the sense that airing free markets is not easygoing considering the volatility of today’s economy, which is mostly puzzled by the emerging stiff competition among enterprises. The economic building based on the transactional reasoning as well as individual autonomy creates a ground for overwhelming conflicts as compared to the economy that is centralized under public utilities via governmental management. The privatization of the economic entities via the neo-liberal shift is also a source of inequality in that it is not always possible to treat public citizens equally under normal circumstances due to the rapidly increasing population of business people in the country. The promotion anti-unionism, anti-inflationary bias and profiteering in the health industry are promoted by the application of Neoliberal policies as compared to the utilization of the central policies of economic organization. The critical approach promotes invest freedom of individual investment leads to economic exploitation, especially where some people with investment potentials minus capital end up suffering (Keen 498). Functional potential of Neo-liberalism The consideration of the critical perspectives in regards to Neo-liberalism overwhelms the positive implications, meaning that its functional potential is minimal. The risks of economic crisis that emerge from non-centralized economy have very high chances of occurrence. For instance, there occurred poor governance decades in Argentina in 1999-2002, where military dictatorship spend-thrift, Neoliberal structural alteration programs and free labour bazaar reforms acted as rationale for the occurrence led to the Argentine economic predicaments. The promotion of oppressive labour reforms promoted by the employment of Mexicans and people from other areas is a source of inequality, which in turn promotes the existence of classes of poor and rich people in a realm. The government supporters also argue that state-centric loom was in operation in a bid to overthrow Keynesianism. The state’s role of the in the market via cutting, reduction in social expenditure, privatization deregulation are also diverted via application neo-liberalism approaches in the economic control. These issues are the major contributors of the demerits for positive approaches as compared to the critical perspectives (Keen 498). Conclusion The recent years have seen Latin America desire to undergo drastic transitions universally referred to as Neo-liberalism. The history has been overwhelmed by the desire to change the liberal economic status into Neoliberal economy. Latin America’s kind of economic adoption has played a pivotal role in the proposition of new strategies implementation, which include Neo-liberalism economic approaches. The rationales of Neoliberalization strategies include freedom in the market investments, creating room for individual autonomy as well as transactional reasoning. However, the functional potential of this approach is not very active due to criticisms that have taken pre-eminence in Latin America concerning the Neo-liberalism approach. Therefore, Neo-liberalization cannot be utilized as a tool for economic control in any country owing to the denial for governmental and corporation’s control of the economy. Works Cited Keen, Benjamin and Haynes, Keith. A History of Latin America. OH: Cengage Learning, 2008. Phillips, Lynne. The third wave of modernization in Latin America: cultural perspectives on Neoliberalism. Wilmington: Rowman & Littlefield, 1998. Read More