Venezuela, ALBA, and the Limits of Postneoliberal Regionalism in Latin America and the Caribbean

226 Pages·2019·2.282 MB·English

by  Asa K. Cusack

STUDIES OF THE AMERICAS
VENEZUELA, ALBA,
AND THE LIMITS OF
POSTNEOLIBERAL
REGIONALISM IN LATIN
AMERICA AND
THE CARIBBEAN
Asa K. Cusack
Studies of the Americas
Series Editor
Maxine Molyneux
Institute of the Americas
University College London
London, UK
The Studies of the Americas Series includes country specific, cross-
disciplinary and comparative research on the United States, Latin America,
the Caribbean, and Canada, particularly in the areas of Politics, Economics,
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tions, that allow exploration of a topic from several different disciplinary
angles. This series is published in conjunction with University College
London’s Institute of the Americas under the editorship of Professor
Maxine Molyneux.
More information about this series at
http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14462
Asa K. Cusack
Venezuela, ALBA, and
the Limits of
Postneoliberal
Regionalism in Latin
America and the
Caribbean
Asa K. Cusack
Latin America and Caribbean Centre
London School of Economics and Political Science
London, UK
Studies of the Americas
ISBN 978-1-349-95002-7 ISBN 978-1-349-95003-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95003-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018944426
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For Shay, the best of men
A
cknowledgements
As any student of regionalism will tell you, there is no escape from the fact
that every level matters: the global, the regional, the national, the local,
and often even the individual. To analyse a given regional governance
project even in theory is a serious undertaking, but to try to get down to
the nuts and bolts of real-world implementation is even more daunting.
Member-states must be visited, histories read, cultures absorbed, political
landscapes surveyed, stakeholders identified, contacts made, trust gained,
pertinent questions asked, data analysed, and ultimately a coherent account
produced. There is no getting around the size of the task, but thankfully
it is rarely one that is taken on alone, and my case is no different.
One of the longstanding constraints on understanding the Bolivarian
Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) has undoubtedly been
the very practical issue of fieldwork, which is both prohibitively expensive
and uniquely valuable. As such, I would like firstly to thank the UK
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) for its funding of the
original research for this project, as well as for its part in the joint Sheffield
Institute for International Development-ESRC fellowship that enabled a
second period of primary research. My gratitude also to the Institute of
Latin American Studies (ILAS), part of the University of London’s School
of Advanced Study, for the postdoctoral Stipendiary Fellowship which was
crucial in allowing me to make sure this research would see the light of day
via these pages.
But fieldwork alone does not a research project make, so thanks first of
all to Jean Grugel, Graham Harrison, and Nicola Phillips for their aca-
demic insight and personal dedication during the long gestation of this
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
work, as well as to Maxine Molyneux for her judicious guidance at critical
moments. Likewise, Carlos Romero and Rosalba Linares in Venezuela,
Ernesto Vivares and Fredy Rivera in Ecuador, and Matt Bishop and
Norman Girvan in the Caribbean also contributed in many and varied
ways to the development of this project through their support and advice.
Though they must largely remain nameless, direct participants—ranging
from heads of state and ministers to activists and everyday citizens—were
fundamentally important to this research, and I very much appreciated
their willingness to engage openly and meaningfully, often in the hope
that lessons could be learnt. In Venezuela particularly, the friendship and
generosity of David Chávez Sáez and Cristina Daza was also crucial. On
the editorial side at Palgrave Macmillan, thanks to Sara Doskow, Anca
Pusca, Chris Robinson, Katelyn Zingg, and especially the long-suffering
Anne Schult for finding the right balance of patience, encouragement, and
vigilance along the rocky road from proposal to printed page.
And finally, my gratitude—and my apologies—to those forced to follow
this one-man telenovela from start to finish: Shay, Mar, Barry, Conor,
Noel, Gid, Mathilde, and especially Jen, thank you for continuing to tune
in even when the plotlines started to repeat themselves and the perfor-
mances became decidedly unconvincing. I promise you that the drama is
over. Until the next exciting episode…
c
ontents
1 A pproaching Venezuela, ALBA, and Postneoliberalism 1
2 G etting to Grips with ALBA’s Brand Governance 27
3 The National Roots of ALBA 57
4 T he People’s Trade Agreement (TCP) 93
5 T he Unified Regional Compensation System (SUCRE) 119
6 Petrocaribe 153
7 Venezuela, ALBA, and the Limits of Postneoliberal
Regionalism 191
Index 213
ix
l f
ist of igures
Fig. 1.1 Geography of ALBA membership 5
Fig. 2.1 Official representation of ALBA’s governance structure 36
Fig. 5.1 Value of SUCRE trade, 2010–2016 129
Fig. 5.2 Value of individual trade relationships within the SUCRE zone,
Jan–Jun 2012 129
Fig. 5.3 Balances of SUCRE trade by participating state, 2011 130
Fig. 6.1 Impact of Petrocaribe on effective price of oil imports, 2003–
April 2016 165
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