Alex E. Fernández Jilberto

Neoliberal restructuring: The Origin and Formation of Economic Groups in Chile

In modern day Chile the economic entrepreneurial landscape is made up of large multinational conglomerates, local economic groups, and so-called emerging economic groups (that burgeoned with the transformation of former government employees into owners of important parts of state-owned companies).This last group is mainly comprised of the neoliberal technocracy that designed the economic policy of the Pinochet dictatorship. The power of these emerging technical groups in democratic Chile is based not only on direct private property, but also on their participation as high-ranking officials that dominate strategic decision-making in companies and conglomerates. Their power has been consolidated with the so-called second wave of privatizations (1985-90), as they took advantage of both profound neoliberal convictions and the unconditional support for multinational companies, which technocratic officials consider to be the materialization of the globalization of the Chilean economy. In turn, many of these technocrats operate as agents or strategic executives, associating with local economic groups and transnational conglomerates. The analysis of the origin and formation of the economic groups and conglomerates that today dominate the globalized Chilean economy is the main objective of this article.In modern day Chile the economic entrepreneurial landscape is made up of large multinational conglomerates, local economic groups, and so-called emerging economic groups (that burgeoned with the tr...

Guest Editors' Introduction : The Social Impact of Economic Crisis in Latin America

Alex E. Fernández Jilberto is a senior lecturer in international relations at the University of Amsterdam. He is the author of several books and articles on the political economy of Latin America and developing countries. Marieke Riethof holds a doctorate in political science from the University of Amsterdam. Her research has focused on the responses of Brazilian labor unions to economic reforms, increased labor flexibility, and privatization. The editors thank Ana Díez Roux and Deborah Mitchell, for their information and comments.

Latin American Experiences with Open Regionalism: Introduction

Open regionalism is the new dominant strategy for the economic integration of Latin American countries. This neoliberal approach to insertion into the world economy by means of regionalization constitutes a clear shift away from the Keynesian concept of economic integration through import-substitution industrialization (ISI). Instead of focusing on national industrialization, the efforts are now directed at industrialization on a regional scale. Open regionalism is the attempt to link the economic interdependency of Latin American countries to liberalization and deregulation. This policy grants a fundamental role to market mechanisms in the assignation of resources in the production process. At the same time, open regionalism is directed at regulating and controlling the integration of Latin American in the globalization process and improving the regions international competitiveness.

América Latina: El fin del ‘Consenso de Washington’, el estado de la democracia y el debate sobre las dos izquierdas

– La democracia en America Latina. Hacia una Democracia de Ciudadanas y Ciudadanos. El Debate Conceptual sobre la Democracia. Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (PNUD), Buenos Aires: Aguilar, Altea, Tauros y Alfaguara, 2004. – La democracia en America Latina. Hacia una Democracia de Ciudadanas y Ciudadanos. Contribuciones para el Debate. Programa de la Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (PNUD), Buenos Aires: Aguilar, Altea, Tauros y Alfaguara, 2004. – Nueva Sociedad 205, ‘America Latina en tiempos de Chavez’, (varios autores), septiembre/octubre 2006, Caracas. – From Pinochet to the ‘Third Way’. Neoliberalism and Social Transformation in Chile, by Marcus Taylor. Pluto Press, London, 2006. – On Argentina and the Southern Cone. Neoliberalism and National Imaginations, by Alejandro Grimson and Gabriel Kessler. Routledge, London, 2005.

Guest Editors' Introduction: Neoliberal Threats to the Welfare State

This issue of the International Journal of Political Economy focuses attention on Welfare State (WS) retrenchments in Germany, Austria, and Egypt. Until recently, both Continental European countries were known for their highly developed welfare systems, based on neocorporatist systems of interest intermediation; while Egypt, with its large state sector and comprehensive welfare programs, was considered to be a successful model for the Arab world. Nowadays, all three welfare states are under stress from external and internal pressures. Increased welfare costs due to ongoing social modernization in combination with increased economic openness are pressing governments to deregulate and privatize parts of the WS.

Guest Editor's Introduction: Neoliberalism, Oligarchy, and Democracy in Central America and the Caribbean

The articles in this volume on the neoliberalization of Central America and the Caribbean constitute a regional version of a broader project on the process of neoliberalization of Latin American populism in the countries of South America and Mexico. The studies of Central America and Cuba are presented independently, not only for reasons of editorial space, but also because the processes of economic and political neoliberalization in this region are substantially different from those of the rest of Latin America, as are the historical processes that preceded integration in the global system. Political instability and the economic debacle provoked by the effects of the international crisis in the 1930s were successfully resisted by the Central American agrarian oligarchies, in contrast with South America. These oligarchies rested on military caudillos that managed to limit and contain the exigencies of economic modernization and social reform, as, for example, in the way that these were implemented in Mexico and the countries of South America. The military caudillos occupied the state for decades and eradicated rural and civil social protests that originated in massive unemployment and wage reductions. Examples of this were the generals Jorge Ubico in Guatemala (1931-1944), Maximiliano Hernandez in El Salvador (1931-1944), Tiburcio Carias Andino in Honduras (1932-1948), and Anastasio Somoza Garcia in Nicaragua (1936--1956). This situation was reinforced by permanent North American intervention and the position of the United Fruit Company, which constituted the po-

The Political Economy of Global Neo-Liberalism: Some Theoretical and Historical Considerations

In this introduction we shall analyze the spread of neo-liberalism within the context of recent historical developments and the fall of the communist bloc. Perhaps the case studies presented in this issue of the IJPE can illustrate the theoretical and historical arguments, because economic, political, and social mutations always occur within a historical and geographical context. In this respect area studies can have the merit of pointing to some structural elements determining the sequence of events and making the functioning of societal forces more transparent. So neo-liberalism can be analyzed as an ideology accompanying recent economic changes in the world economy, but also as an instrument necessarily adopted by the less developed countries in order to adjust their economies to the pressure exercised by the major economic powers. Until now neo-liberalism as political and economic ideology has been one of the most successful elements of the reconstruction of capitalist hegemony over the global system. This occurred a few decades after capitalism and communism had silently agreed on the principle of peaceful coexistence and competition for political and economic influence in and over the formerly colonial countries. In reality two competing systems of accumulation were striving for world hegemony. Within the realm of this competition several specific features could be recognized as having a serious impact on the political, ideological, and military setting of both blocs. The Western capitalist world had to recognize the supremacy of the United States after the defeat of fascism in Europe and the subsequent implosion of European