Globalization and Social Change in Latin America

7/21/2019 Globalization and Social Change in Latin America

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http://lap.sagepub.com/Latin American Perspectives

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The online version of this article can be found at:

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X02029005012002 29: 3Latin American Perspectives

Gary HytrekIntroduction : Globalization and Social Change in Latin America

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Introduction

Globalization and SocialChange in LatinAmerica

by

Gary Hytrek

Gary Hytrek teaches sociology at Georgia Southern University. His most recent work, with Gil-Wook Shin, "Social Conflict and Regime Formation:A Comparative Study of South Korea and

Costa Rica," is forthcoming in International Sociology. He is currently examining the intersec-tion of class and gender in institutional formation in Costa Rica during the 1890-1950 period.The collective thanks him and Miguel Sobrado Chaves for their work in organizing this issue.

The reemergence of formal democracy in LatinAmerica during the 1980s

and 1990s was but one step in the most recent attempts at constructing

democracy. Beyond the creation of formal democratic institutions lies themore difficulttask ofdemocratic consolidation, which involves the extension

of substantive social, political, and civil rights to the entire population. Thisoutcome does not easily follow from the institutionalization ofelectoral com-

petition.A critical dimension of democracy-the presence of autonomousand empowered citizens-is often undermined by clientelist social relations.

Indeed, clientelism has historically coexisted with a variety of social and

political forms, from a formal system in feudalism to more subtle forms in

contemporary democracies.

In the Third World, clientelism began most forcefully with incorporationinto the expanding international economy.As capitalism expanded and new

regions were incorporated as primary-product producers, the process inhib-ited industrialization and the growth of an organized working class.As a

result, subordinate-class enfranchisement and political participation wereoften initiated and constrained by segments of the dominant classes compet-

ing for control of the state. In LatinAmerica, the principal forms of politicalparticipation have continued to follow this logic. Embedded in contemporaryLatinAmerican societies are &dquo;rituals of marginality&dquo; whereby the relationsbetween the dominant capitalist class and the popular classes are expressed inthe favor-producing exchanges of patron-client relations. These relations,through which goods and services are exchanged between classes of unequalpower, serve to maintain unequal power relations.

Organizing and mobilizing the subordinate classes in order to undermine

clientelism and prioritize the needs and interests of the majority have proved


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politically difficult and even dangerous. LatinAmerican history is repletewith examples of the dominant classes using the military and paramilitarygroups to halt these efforts. Equally important, clientelist relations have oftenserved as a technique for the dominant classes, allied with foreign capital, to

co-opt, divide, and ultimately control the popular classes. Elite-led multiclass

populist movements of marginal or previously excluded groups are variantsof clientelism. In these cases, communities and social groups exchange sup-port, often as votes, for community and personal benefits. Thus the relation-

ship is based on the monopoly and selective distribution of public goods andthe protection and expansion of political turf.

As global restructuring alters the internal structures and social relations ofLatinAmerican societies, new opportunities are emerging to forge new polit-ical alliances. But this raises a fundamental question: is there a strategy capa-ble of undermining clientelism and engendering autonomy and empower-ment from below? One possibility, according to Miguel Sobrado, is the

organizational workshop developed by the Brazilian Clodomir Santos deMorais. Unlike microenterprise or World Bank-designed participatory strat-

egies, the Morais strategy ignores neither the socio-historical context nor the

least powerful segments of the population. Basedon

communal cooperativeenterprises and investment on the part of local communities, the programempowers participants through a cooperative process of analyzing problemsand designing and implementing solutions. By contrast, traditional programstend to individualize and atomize participants, ultimately placing them in

competition with each other for jobs that either do not exist or are low-wageand unstable.As Sobrado argues, participation in an organizational work-

shop not only imparts the vision and capabilities necessary to exploit localand global markets but empowers the subordinate classes to break with exist-

ing clientelist social relations and create the foundation for substantive,inclusive democracy.As Sobrado shows, Moraiss strategy has been successful because it

empowers the least powerful segments of the population to create by them-selves and for themselves jobs and a future. By contrast, as Cristina Escobardetails in her analysis of Sucre, Colombia, projects based on market mecha-nisms often reinforce clientelism. Such reforms too often fail to address the

underlying structural conditions and as a result fall squarely into the logic of

clientelism. In this case, even though the peasants in Sucre were successful ininducing democratic and land reforms, clientelist relations have not been bro-ken. Part of the problem, Escobar argues, is the absence of full social, politi-cal, and civil rights (a la T. H. Marshall). In Sucre, reforms may have

expanded political and even civil rights, but the failure to ensure social rightshas undermined the initial reforms and reinforced clientelism.

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Implicit in Escobars analysis is the importance of the historical and cul-tural context within which struggles for democracy are positioned. Serena

Cosgrove takes up this point in her study of two cases of NGO-sponsoredmicroenterprise projects in El Salvador. In the literature on NGOs, a sharpdividing line exists between those who see NGOs as sellouts and those whoview them as a panacea for all developmental problems. Cosgroves study,however, shows that there is often considerable middle ground between thetwo positions-thatNGOs can contribute to various levels of empowermentbut this depends on the specific social context. In so doing, Cosgrove enrichesour understanding of the dynamic between NGOs and local actors.

The importance of the historical context is further illustrated byAmandaSivess analysis ofthe emergence of the drug don in Kingston, Jamaica. Sivesshows that decentralization and state restructuring alone are not sufficient forthe creation of democracy. In Jamaica, a conjuncture of events-decliningstate resources, state restructuring, and the growth of the internationalcocaine trade-conditioned a shift only in the nature of clientelism.Asneoliberal reforms decentralized the state, the drug don moved in to fill thevacuum created by the retreat of the political don. Similar to the case of

Sucre, the Kingston case suggests that where social citizenship rights areignored, the development of democracy is threatened. Both studies clearlyshow that neither competitive elections nor neoliberal reforms are sufficientto create a fully inclusive democratic society.

The question of decentralization and its effects on political relations istaken up in Maria Pilar Garcia-Guadillas study of state restructuring in Cara-cas. She examines how political reforms altered the relationships between thestate and civil society, in particular the relations between the political classand the middle and

workingclasses.As she shows, the middle and

workingclasses have adapted differently to the political reforms, but ratherthan deep-ening or leading to a more inclusive democracy the reforms have evolvedwithin the logic of clientelism. Whether one focuses on the middle or on the

working class, the political relationships remain clientelist. Her analysisshows that when reforms ignore the structural conditions giving rise to previ-ous political practices, resolving future problems of democratic participationwill be impossible.

Taken together, the analyses of Caracas, Sucre, and Kingston challengearguments that neoliberal reforms and decentralization will automaticallyand necessarily create autonomous and empowered citizens. My review

essay on globalization, social change, and democracy makes a similar point;local-level politics are conditioned by the historical context and the complexinteraction between subordinate groups, local leadership, the dominant ide-

ology, and the political and economic structure at the community, national,



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and international levels. One thread in these books is an emphasis on the

emergence of formal democracy as a historic but relatively small victory in

the struggle for a more substantive democracy.Overall, these case studies, combined with the theoretical/strategic paper

by Sobrado and my review essay, will be of special interest to activists, policyanalysts, scholars, and students concerned with the local effects of globaliza-tion. They not only contextualize debates over structural reforms but caution

us against easy solutions to complex problems of material, political, andsocial inequality. In the end, these articles show the necessity for locallydesigned and managed programs to induce self-sufficiency, improve living

conditions, and engender democracy.


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Globalization and Social Change in Latin America