Latin America at the End of Politics PDF
Preview Latin America at the End of Politics
Latin America at the End of Politics Latin America at the End of Politics Forrest D. Colburn Princeton University Press Princeton and Oxford Copyright © 2002 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place, Woodstock, Ox- fordshire OX20 1SY All Rights Reserved ISBN 0-691-08907-8 (cl.) ISBN 0-691-09181-1 (pbk.) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Colburn, Forrest D. Latin America at the end of politics / Forrest D. Colburn. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-691-08907-8 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-691-09181-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Latin America—Politics and government—1980- 2. Latin America—Economic conditions—1982- 3. Latin America—Social conditions—1982- I. Title. JL966 .C65 2002 306'.098—dc21 2001038753 British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available This book has been composed in Sabon Printed on acid-free paper. o° www.pup.princeton.edu Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 (Pbk.) If the shark is the last one to criticize saltwater, maybe it does take an outsider to see things. John Baldessari Contents Acknowledgments ix 1 Introduction I 2 Latin America as a Place 9 3 Urban Bias 17 4 An Ideological Vacuum 25 5 Fragile Democracies 33 6 The Business of Being in Business 45 7 Environmental Degradation 55 8 Malls 65 9 Crime 73 10 The Poor 81 11 Struggling for Gender Equality 89 12 El Gringo 99 13 What to Paint? 109 14 Migration 119 15 Conclusion 127 List of Illustrations 135 A Note about Sources 137 Bibliography 139 Acknowledgments This contemplation of Latin America was stimulated by work at INCAE, an institution not well known outside of business and public policy circles in Latin America, though it is perhaps Latin America's premier graduate school of management. (Initially, INCAE was an acro- nym, but now it is the formal—and only—name of the institute.) INCAE's central campus is in Costa Rica, but half the students in the two-year master's program come from South America. The annual four- week executive program is likewise "continental": participants come from as far as Brazil, Argentina, and Chile as well as Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela, in addition to the countries of Central Amer- ica and Mexico. Similarly, INCAE's seminars and "in-house" training programs are often held outside of Costa Rica, from Buenos Aires to Quito to Miami. INCAE's faculty not only teach but also do research, principally for the writing of teaching cases and for sponsored projects. Research, too, often takes the faculty far from the tranquil campus in La Garita, Costa Rica. Thus, for INCAE's faculty there is constant travel and constant encounters with a diverse set of Latin Americans. Work is engaging and thought-provoking. In response, and in gratitude, I offer these reflections. At INCAE I am indebted to many colleagues, including Brizio Biondi- Morra, Roberto Artavia, Ernesto Ayala, Pedro Raventôs, Arturo Cruz, Eduardo Montiel, Francisco de Paula Gutierrez, Alberto Trejos, Tom Bloch, and Danilo Lacayo. I am especially thankful to Ernesto Ayala; late-afternoon conversations with him shaped the design of this work. My work at INCAE was complemented by teaching stints at Prince- ton University and the City University of New York (CUNY). At Prince- ton University I am grateful to Peter Johnson, John Waterbury (who has since moved to Beirut), Robert Socolow, Atul Kohli, James Trussell, Paul Sigmund, Gillett Griffin, and a fellow visiting professor, Jorge Cas- tafieda. At CUNY I was assisted by Xavier Totti, César Ayala, Milagros ACKNOWLEDGMENTS x Ricourt, Laird Bergad, José Luis Rénique, Herb Broderick, Vinisius Na- varro, and Ruben Gallo. Art to complement the text was graciously provided in New York by Spencer Throckmorton of Throckmorton Fine Art. My wife, Kathrin Colburn, a textile conservator, selected the art in consultation with Spencer. Kathrin also arranged the photography of the art, which was done by her colleagues at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bruce Schwarz and Joseph Coscia. A grant from the Shuster Fund paid for the photography. A colleague at Cornell University, Norman Uphoff, read a first draft of this study during an extended visit to Madagascar, one of the world's poorest countries. He reported finding it quite a juxtaposition to be working and traveling there while considering the travails and para- doxes of a region—Latin America—that has moved far ahead of Mad- agascar economically, only to confront a whole new set of difficulties. Norman gave me extensive, thoughtful, and inspiring comments that enabled me to strengthen the study.
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