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- Convenor:
-
Geoff Goodwin
(University of Leeds)
Send message to Convenor
- Location:
- UP 4.209
- Start time:
- 12 April, 2013 at
Time zone: Europe/London
- Session slots:
- 2
Short Abstract:
Building on the papers presented in Radical Americas I, this panel will investigate the theoretical and intellectual underpinnings of "21st century socialism" and examine the relationship between theory and practice in the nations integrated into ALBA.
Long Abstract:
Building on the papers presented in Radical Americas I, this panel will investigate the theoretical and intellectual underpinnings of "21st Century Socialism" and examine the relationship between theory and practice in the nations integrated into ALBA (e.g. Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador). Questions the panel will explore include: What are the continuities and discontinuities between the theoretical and intellectual foundations of 20th and 21st century socialisms? How have the theoretical underpinnings of "21st century socialism" been translated into practice? Where have the gaps been most evident between theory and practice? What have been the commonalities and differences between the theory and practice of "21st Century Socialism" in the ALBA countries? The panel invites papers on the work of contemporary scholars such as David Harvey, José Luis Coraggio, and Ernesto Laclau as well as traditional thinkers such as Karl Marx, Karl Polanyi, and José Carlos Mariátegui. The panel will develop the ideas and papers discussed at the Radical Americas symposium which will take place on 28-29 January 2013 at the Institute of the Americas, UCL. This panel will be convened by the Radical Americas Network.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper short abstract:
Framed by critical globalisation theory and David Harvey’s ‘co-revolutionary moments’ as a theory of social change, this paper empirically analyses how socialism is being constructed in contemporary Latin America and the Caribbean and beyond through the ALBA-TCP.
Paper long abstract:
This paper integrates critical globalisation theory with David Harvey's 'co-revolutionary' theory of social change to develop a framework through which to analyse the construction of socialism via the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America - Peoples' Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP). I will introduce the concept of (counter-hegemonic) global 'pluri-scalar war of position', to which three elements are of particular relevance: firstly, Robert Cox's constructivist neo-Gramscian international relations theory which considers the structure/agency interplay in the transformation of historical structures; secondly, theories of place, space and scale, borrowed from human geography; and, thirdly, Harvey's internally dynamic and contradictory 'co-revolutionary' moments which are the crux of socialist/communist revolution as permanent process. Informed by inter-disciplinary case studies from diverse places within the emergent ALBA-TCP space, in countries such as Bolivia, Cuba, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Venezuela and the USA, Harvey's seven 'co-revolutionary moments' structure a systematic exploration of the multi-dimensional, pluri-scalar construction of socialism. This generates not only a holistic understanding of regional and global transformations, but also permits identifying social and structural forces at different scales to illuminate relationships between things, processes and systems and the conjunction of politics and practices at work.
Paper short abstract:
Using Karl Polanyi’s concepts of the “fictitious commodity” and “double movement” and drawing on research undertaken in Highland Ecuador between 2009 and 2011, this paper provides a critical examination of the Correa government’s “Agrarian Revolution”.
Paper long abstract:
The chasm between the declarations and actions of the Rafael Correa government has been at its widest in relation to agrarian policies. Using Karl Polanyi's concepts of the "fictitious commodity" and "double movement" and drawing on research undertaken in Highland Ecuador between 2009 and 2011, this paper provides a critical examination of the Correa government's "Agrarian Revolution", questioning the radicalism of the programme and highlighting the basic continuities with the agrarian policies of past regimes.
Paper short abstract:
The "Bolivarian revolution" in Venezuela challenges the traditional dichotomy between reform and revolution. Popular mobilisation, elections and governmental action have partially transformed and replaced the existing state. This paper will examine the debate on this process and its implications.
Paper long abstract:
Marxist scholars and activists have generally adhered to the Leninist view that to create socialism the bourgeois state must be destroyed and replaced, not merely reformed. However in Venezuela the "Bolivarian revolution" has proceeded through a combination of elections, mass mobilisations and reforms in which both popular pressure and governmental policies have continuously assaulted, undermined and transformed the institutions of the "Fourth Republic", while attempting to create new, parallel institutions which displace or substitute for existing structures. There is a growing body of literature by Venezuelans and others which analyses and theorises these processes: authors such as Carlos Lanz, Victor Alvarez and Michael Lebowitz have made important contributions. This paper will summarise the debate and suggest new lines of enquiry.
Paper short abstract:
This contribution from Ecuador addresses the shifts of an international project to implement human rights indicators between two competing visions of justice. Hegemony, the idea of development and improvement seems to characterize the first, misnamed as Buen Vivir, the second differs entirely.
Paper long abstract:
Based on four field trips (2008-2013) to Ecuador, this qualitative research contribution addresses the changing role of the national human rights indicators system during its implementation. While following UNHCHR methodology and advise, executive-related problems arise locally from diverging epistemologies of justice ("sumakawsay") under the given political and social-economical reality. The current Ecuadorian government draws, in a blurred way, on genuine indigenous perspectives ('buen vivir') in order to seek, at least officially, an alternative to the Western idea of development altogether, for which also human rights indicators stand in a paradigmatic way. Thus, two types of envisioning justice seem to clash; difficult to reconcile without understanding their respective ethical 'script' on a discursive as well as on an empirical level as a struggle for biocentric hegemony. Numerous indigenous leaders and human rights defenders have been persecuted and arrested by the police and military under the charge of terrorism. Likewise, diverging sources of information and documentation regarding human rights issues are publicly delegitimized. Over the past years, also the human rights indicator project has been shifted in outlook. From a promising space for deepened socio-political information and thus participation and empowerment, it became more and more appropriated by a "cunning state" (S. Randeria) in its attempt to render the state more visible. At the same time as the Correa government seeks to maintain hegemony, and international bodies seek to fulfill their agenda, also the bottom-up movement following a different path towards justice develops own strategies to counter the national attempts.
Paper short abstract:
This paper intends to counter the view that ALBA is a unilateral Venezuelan project, by considering the role of Bolivia and Ecuador in constructing the imaginary of ALBA, and consolidating it in the ‘Peoples Trade Treaty’ and ‘Unified Regional System for Economic Compensation’ respectively.
Paper long abstract:
The ALBA is often perceived as a unilateral project driven by Venezuela, with other members seen simply as passive recipients of Chávez's aid and oil largesse. This paper intends to counter that perspective by considering the role of Bolivia and Ecuador in building the regional framework as we see it today. When Bolivia and Ecuador joined the ALBA, following the elections of Evo Morales and Rafael Correa respectively, they brought with them unique perspectives on regional relations and creative solutions to encourage endogenous development, which were vital to the emergent framework. The paper will consider the countries' roles in constructing the 'imaginary' of ALBA, as well as its institutionalization through the establishment of the 'Tratado the Comercio de los Pueblos' (TCP, or 'Peoples Trade Treaty) and 'Sistema Unificado de Compensacion Regional Economico' (SUCRE, or 'Unified Regional System for Economic Compensation') respectively. To this end we will explore both the rhetoric surrounding these two alternative approaches to regional trade and their concrete achievements, in terms of reasserting the state as an economic actor, challenging market fundamentalism, and undermining US economic hegemony in the region.