Latin America is at a crossroads: will it follow a capitalist or socialist path? This is one of the questions James Petras and Henry Veltmeyer pose in the introduction to this book. Unfortunately, they do not make a serious attempt to answer it. Clues are provided but a rigorous analysis is lacking. Their failure to explore one of the key points raised in the introduction draws attention to one of the weaknesses of the book. Little effort is made to link chapters and develop themes and ideas. Consequently, the book, which includes a chapter written by Raúl Delgado Wise and Humberto Márquez Covarrubias, resembles a collection of standalone essays rather than a single coherent volume. Other flaws weaken the book. There is a significant amount of repetition and a lack of consistency within and between chapters. The sourcing is also inadequate. The reader is at times left wondering where facts and figures have been pulled from which seriously undermines the analysis. These flaws significantly reduce the appeal of the book. Nonetheless, it still shines light on a number of important issues and provides a welcome tonic to studies which fail to recognise the strains and tensions at the heart of capitalism.
Of the book's 13 chapters, seven focus largely or wholly on Latin America, while the others consider the ‘crisis’ of world capitalism, the nature of imperialism, and, somewhat incongruously, the state of democracy in Egypt. The discussion of imperialism draws attention to the global imbalances in economic, political and military power that continue to shape development in Latin America. The authors highlight continuities in Latin America-United States relations but also acknowledge that ‘there are powerful reasons to consider the decline in US power as a long term and irreversible trend’ (p. 221). One of the factors cited for this change is the shift in world economic power towards Asia and the growing interest Latin American governments and businesses have shown in developing economic relations with the region.
Inequality is another important theme in the book. While the authors recognise the reductions in income inequality some Latin American governments have achieved over the last decade, they also highlight areas where advances have been less impressive. Brazil, for example, has experienced a noticeable fall in income inequality but has not seen a real improvement in land distribution. This highlights the need to bring natural resources, such as land and water, into academic and policy debates over inequality in Latin America. It also draws attention to the structural issues governments will have to tackle if they are serious about making significant and lasting improvements in inequality.
The analysis the authors offer of land reform suggests social movements and grassroots organisations have a key role to play in this process. Three varieties of reform are proposed: state, market and grassroots. The merit of this typology is that it highlights the important role indigenous and peasant communities and movements have performed in implementing land reform from below in Latin America. Land redistribution has been achieved despite a lack of political interest in land reform. Occupations, protests and legal channels have been used to force expropriation and redistribution in various countries. Rather than being a passive or dwindling force, ‘the peasantry remains a significant factor of social and political change in rural society’ (p. 86).
While insightful, the analysis would have been stronger if the authors had made greater effort to engage with theory. Frustratingly, references are made to a number of ideas and concepts but no serious attempt is made to explain or employ them. For example, the authors stress the relevance of Karl Polanyi's historical analysis of the rise of the market economy but make no attempt to analyse land reform and agrarian change through his theoretical framework. Similarly, David Harvey's concept of ‘accumulation by dispossession’ is mentioned but not explained or explored. A similar approach is followed elsewhere in the book. The authors enthusiastically claim that Karl Polanyi's ‘double movement’ concept ‘best describes capitalist development over the past three decades in the region’ (p. 53) but offer a Marxist analysis of resistance to neoliberal restructuring in Latin America. No effort is made to view this process through the lens of the ‘double movement’ or discuss the points of convergence and divergence between Polanyian and Marxist social theory.
One of the book's more interesting chapters explores the structural roots of Mexico-United States migration, focusing on the restructuring of the Mexican economy during the neoliberal phase of capitalism. The chapter, which is authored by Raúl Delgado Wise and Humberto Márquez Covarrubias, highlights a number of important aspects of this process. Taking a global perspective, the authors convincingly argue accelerating south-north migration ‘is one of the many current expressions of the growing asymmetries that characterise contemporary capitalism’ (p. 119). In the case of Mexico, the introduction of the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), neoliberal restructuring of the economy, and steadfast commitment to orthodox macroeconomic policies have restrained economic growth, limited job creation and generated a vast pool of surplus labour, which has flowed into the United States economy. One of the corollaries of this process is the increase of remittance flows into Mexico, which support the balance-of-payments and provide valuable sources of income for the families of migrant workers. The authors note the paradox of this trend: remittances from migrants support the economic model which forces them to migrate.
To sum up, the book shines light on a number of important issues in Latin America but falls short in a number of areas. Readers who are looking for a rigorous and imaginative analysis of twenty-first century capitalism will be disappointed.
