Abstract, The United States and Latin America in the Trans-Pacific Partnership: Renewing Hegemony in a Post–Washington Consensus Hemisphere?

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The United States and Latin America in the Trans-Pacific Partnership: Renewing Hegemony in a Post–Washington Consensus Hemisphere?
by Rubrick Biegon                  


The nascent Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement puts the United States at the center of an expanding liberalization regime connecting the Americas to the Asia-Pacific region. U.S. power is bound up with the globalization of Latin America’s political economy, and the TPP is indicative of U.S. efforts to renew its hegemony in the region. It reinforces the importance of “free trade” on the post–Washington Consensus agenda, undercutting existing Latin American–led approaches to integration while responding to China’s growing influence in the hemisphere. As the free-trade consensus is reconstructed through the TPP process, U.S. hegemony in the Americas is potentially extended even as it continues to face challenges in the structural, institutional, and ideological dimensions of intrahemispheric affairs.

Abstract, ¿Por qué no les callan? Hugo Chávez’s Reelection and the Decline of Western Hegemony in the Americas

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¿Por qué no les callan?
Hugo Chávez’s Reelection and the Decline of Western Hegemony in the Americas
by Sean W. Burges, Tom Chodor, R. Guy Emerson


On October 7, 2012, Hugo Chávez was comfortably reelected president of Venezuela. Just days before the vote, the impression given by major international print media was that it would be close, an assessment that proved to be at best optimistic. Western media coverage of the election in Venezuela was designed to skew the result toward the opposition, and this effort singularly failed. The “propaganda model” advanced by Herman and Chomsky is now faltering in the Americas, and the region is acting in a manner that is increasingly free of influence from the United States. Venezuela thus stands as a case of the citizenry actively and independently asserting its political agency despite clear attempts to redirect its thinking and decision making.

Abstract, The Venezuelan Path to Socialism Questions about Gradual Change

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The Venezuelan Path to Socialism
Questions about Gradual Change
by Raphael Lana Seabra


The Bolivarian Revolution is characterized by the gradual and peaceful conquest of political power without an immediate break with the capitalist order, following the legitimate path of democratic radicalization to the creation of a multiple system of property with the medium-to-long-term goal of overcoming the pillars of capitalist domination. Petroleum redistribution policy continues to strengthen some capitalist factions. The tactic of a gradual transition to socialism tends to reinforce the capitalist system of accumulation for certain factions and could interfere with the revolution.

Book, Rethinking Latin America

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Rethinking Latin America
Development, Hegemony, and Social Transformation
by Ronaldo P. Munck

In a subtle but powerful reading of the shifting relationships between development, hegemony, and social transformation in post-independence Latin America, Ronaldo Munck argues that Latin American subaltern knowledge makes a genuine contribution to the current search for a social order which is sustainable and equitable.

Abstract, From System Collapse to Chavista Hegemony The Party Question in Bolivarian Venezuela

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From System Collapse to Chavista Hegemony
The Party Question in Bolivarian Venezuela
by Gabriel Hetland                                                                 


During the 14 years Hugo Chávez was in office, Venezuela’s party system experienced a 180-degree shift. When Chávez was elected in 1998, Venezuela’s party system had collapsed because of a two-decade-long economic-cum-political crisis. His initial appeal was built, in large part, on his antiparty message, a stance that continued through the first half of his time in office. A series of factors, principally the need for a more cohesive organization to combat an intransigent opposition, led to the creation of the Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (United Socialist Party of Venezuela—PSUV) in 2007. The PSUV quickly became Venezuela’s largest party and the linchpin of a new hegemonic system. The contradictions of that system are manifested in the split between the PSUV’s right and left wings, and the hegemony of Chavismo is now in doubt.

Abstract, Post-Neoliberalism’s Difficult Hegemonic Consolidation: A Comparative Analysis of the Ecuadorean and Bolivian Processes by Íñigo Errejón and Juan Guijarro

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Post-Neoliberalism’s Difficult Hegemonic Consolidation: A Comparative Analysis of the Ecuadorean and Bolivian Processes 
by Íñigo Errejón and Juan Guijarro

The current governments of Ecuador and Bolivia came to power after across-the-board crises of the political system. One of their immediate challenges is to consolidate the hegemony forged in the struggles against the neoliberal state. However, the allegiances created through the conflict are hard to transfer to an institutionalization of the new correlation of forces, and some groups have experienced disenchantment with the progressive governments. A comparative analysis of the hegemonic transition in the two cases suggests that, in contrast to that of Bolivia’s Movimiento al Socialismo, the hegemonic capacity of Ecuador’s electoral alliance, weakly organized and centered around the charismatic leadership of an “outsider,” depends more on its ability to dismantle possible opponents than on the appeal of its official identity, forcing it into constant reaffirmation of political boundaries.

Abstract, Post-Neoliberalism’s Difficult Hegemonic Consolidation: A Comparative Analysis of the Ecuadorean and Bolivian Processes by Íñigo Errejón and Juan Guijarro

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Post-Neoliberalism’s Difficult Hegemonic Consolidation: A Comparative Analysis of the Ecuadorean and Bolivian Processes 
by Íñigo Errejón and Juan Guijarro

The current governments of Ecuador and Bolivia came to power after across-the-board crises of the political system. One of their immediate challenges is to consolidate the hegemony forged in the struggles against the neoliberal state. However, the allegiances created through the conflict are hard to transfer to an institutionalization of the new correlation of forces, and some groups have experienced disenchantment with the progressive governments. A comparative analysis of the hegemonic transition in the two cases suggests that, in contrast to that of Bolivia’s Movimiento al Socialismo, the hegemonic capacity of Ecuador’s electoral alliance, weakly organized and centered around the charismatic leadership of an “outsider,” depends more on its ability to dismantle possible opponents than on the appeal of its official identity, forcing it into constant reaffirmation of political boundaries.