300113 The end of a progressive cycle? Transformation, Government and Social Movements in Latin America (S) (SoSe 2017)

The U.S.-American elections are not the only element pointing to a conservative rollback in the Americas. In current transformations of states and governments in the Andes and in the Southern Cone a more radical rupture seems to have taken place. In Argentina, former Buenos Aires mayor, the conservative Mauricio Macri, was voted into power in 2015, the Brazilian parliament decided to oust President Dilma Rousseff, and the Bolivian government is under pressure. Not to mention Venezuela, where the situation seems to grow more acute by the minute. Authors speak of an "end of the progressive cycle", referring to previous years of economic growth and social policies initiated by social movement claims to more inclusive measures. Limits to the progresistas' development model had become obvious, with symptoms of shrinking margins of maneouvre and distribution, and with criminalizing effects on social movements. The situation is one of polarization and political tension.
What were conditions for the political crisis of progressive governments? What changes in state-society relations, social structure and political agency become visible in these changes? What different civil society positions can we observe? With political systems being formally democratic, how are calls for security-prone, mano-dura approaches to government to be explained?

Details:
The course will link conjunctural analysis of Latin American cases to broader themes of state, democracy and development theories. Readings of the Colombian Peace Deal will supply us with knowledge on conflict actors' access to the state and changing constellations of interests. Through readings of the Honduran coup and the Mexican case, we consider the role of violence and private coercion in Latin America from colonial legacies through to political transformation today.
The role of labour for political transformation during the last 15 years will be considered with a focus on the cases of Argentina and Brazil, as will be the notion of broader social movements, i.e. in Bolivia and Ecuador. The analysis of plans to build a new ocean-to-ocean canal in Nicaragua will help understand how a conventional imagery of progress is still imperative for maintaining political power. We will consider the role that the United States, international organizations and financial economy pressures played in facilitating government change (without neglecting the first's involvement in historical military coups). All cases will be considered in relation to what in a heated discussion has been termed "neo-extractivism" or the reliance on natural resources.
We will look at primary data (available in english) such as wikileaks cables, polls and reports by supranational organizations such as the Organization of American States (OAS) or Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).

The course is organized in various blocks with conceptual sessions introducing session blocks which each focus on casework. The aim is to develop common analytical grounds and extract a network of categories to understand these transformations.