Prof George Philip CON 3.02

This course is available on the MPA in European Public and Economic Policy, MPA in International Development, MPA in Public Policy and Management, MPA in Public and Economic Policy, MPA in Public and Social Policy, MSc in Comparative Politics, MSc in Global Politics and MSc in Global Politics (Global Civil Society). This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

Other graduate students may follow the course with permission.

The course studies the relations between democracy and economic reform in Latin America since the 1980s. It starts mid-point through the period under study, in 1994, when there was a strong consensus about the mutually reinforcing benefits of liberal democracy, free market economics and hemispheric trade integration. It then traces back the origins of this consensus to the 1980s and discusses how it was generated  by looking at the role of ideas, interests and institutions in processes of economic change. The second part of the course looks at the backlash against free market economics (also know as neoliberalism) and the rise of the left as an alternative to the consensus of the 1990s and to alternative of neoliberalism. The final three sessions look at the social and economic transformation of the region in the 21st century and to their impact on democracy, development and regional integration.

10 hours of lectures and 15 hours of seminars in the LT. 1 hour and 30 minutes of seminars in the ST.

All students are expected to submit two non-assessed essays and make at least one seminar presentation.

Green, D. (2003) Silent Revolution. The Rise and Crisis of Market Economics in Latin America, London: Latin American Bureau; Levitsky, S. & Roberts K.M. (2011) The Resurgence of the Latin American Left, Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press; Panizza,F.(2009) Contemporary Latin America: Development and Democracy Beyond the Washington Consensus, London, Zed Books; Skidmore, T. and Smith, P. (2010) Modern Latin America, New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press; Isbester, K. (2010) The Paradox of Democracy in Latin America. Ten Country Studies of Division and Resilience. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours) in the main exam period.

Two-hour unseen written examination in the ST.