Latin America A New Interpretation

This innovative contribution to comparative area studies evaluates Latin America's distinctiveness, and shows how 'large regions' can be compared. The overwhelming impact of Europe followed by precocious independence produced an exceptional outward orientation, which has prompted successive waves of reform 'from above and without', often resisted and superceded rather than fully assimilated. This book explores the resulting patterns that can be observed in multiple domains, through the optic of a 'mausoleum of modernity.' By applying this perspective to state organization, the politics of expertise, privatization, poverty and inequality, and citizenship insecurity, it generates an overall new interpretation of Latin America's regional distinctiveness.

Laurence Whitehead is Official Fellow in Politics and Acting Warden of Nuffield College.

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Preface	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. ix
Acronyms	p. xi
Introduction: Latin America in Comparative Perspective	p. 1
Introduction	p. 1
Latin America Compared to Other Large World Regions	p. 3
Latin America and Europe	p. 8
Configurative Characteristics	p. 10
Themes and Organization	p. 18
Latin America as a ôMausoleum of Modernitiesö	p. 23
Introduction	p. 23
Latin America's Distinctive Relation to ôModernityö	p. 27
Successive Waves of ôModernityö in Latin America	p. 35
The Littered Landscape	p. 44
How Durable A Break with the Past?	p. 53
Conclusion: Reflections on Multiple Modernities	p. 66
Latin American State Organization	p. 71
Introduction	p. 71
Territorial Control	p. 85
Administration	p. 93
ôCognitiveö Capacity	p. 98
Command Over Resources	p. 105
Postscript on Citizenship	p. 116
Conclusion	p. 117
The Politics of Expertise	p. 121
Introduction	p. 121
Antecedents	p. 125
Actualities	p. 128
Conclusion	p. 137
Economics in Mexico: The Power of Ideas and Ideas of Power	p. 141
Introduction	p. 141
Origins of the Profession	p. 142
The Rise of the Economic Technocrats	p. 144
Comparisons	p. 148
The Profession	p. 150
The ôNeoLiberalö Ascendancy	p. 154
External Derivations	p. 157
The Authoritarian Style	p. 160
Performance	p. 162
Conclusion: The Prospects	p. 164
Privatization and the Public Interest: Partial Theories, Lopsided Outcomes	p. 169
Introduction	p. 169
ôPrivatizationö and ôThe Public Interestö	p. 172
Alternative Styles of Privatization: Timing and Sequencing	p. 180
The Contemporary Scene: Momentum and Resistance	p. 186
Lopsided Theories	p. 189
Conclusion: Partial Outcomes	p. 198
Democracy, Inequality, and Insecurity: Three Sources of Contestation	p. 203
Introduction	p. 203
Inequality and Social Injustice	p. 205
Democracy and Insecurity	p. 217
Conclusions	p. 226
Conclusion: On Characterizing Latin America	p. 233
Notes	p. 251
Bibliography	p. 285
Index	p. 301
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Latin America A New Interpretation

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