Paper short abstract:

Debating with some insights of the so-called neo-Gramscian school, we apply the analysis of relations of forces as a key mechanism for understanding Latin American political dynamics behind the "XXI Century' socialism".

Paper long abstract:

Reducing the political centrality of organized labor, the neoliberal stage of capitalism also generated an increase in political struggles in peripheral societies. In fact, the genealogy of the "alter-globalization movement" -the first articulated manifestation of antineoliberal struggle- led directly to the insurrection of the Zapatista Army for National Liberation -EZLN- in Mexico.

A major feature of antineoliberal resistance has been a a proliferation of subjects, struggles and claims, that in their most radical versions define themselves as "anticapitalist". This context created a fertile field in Latin America for leftist governments that tried to expand popular participation and new visions of development in defiance of neoliberal hegemony.

The governments of XXI Century Socialism -in Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela- nationalized their main natural resources and redirected extractive rents to strength their State apparatus, providing health, education and focalized subsides to specific sectors of the population. On the other hand, they have sustained the predominance of the capitalist mode of production, maintaining an economic structure based on the production of commodities for the world market, generating social and ecological conflicts, and stirring radical opposition from the main social movements of their own countries.

In this paper, we offer some insights for understanding the class struggle behind these political processes, incorporating the analysis of relations of force as a major mechanism for understanding Latin American political dynamics during the transition to the XXI Century.