The Routledge Handbook to the Political Economy and Governance of the Americas

Description

This handbook explores the political economy and governance of the Americas, placing particular emphasis on collective and intertwined experiences. Forty-six chapters cover a range of Inter-American key concepts and dynamics. The flow of peoples, goods, resources, knowledge and finances have on the one hand promoted interdependence and integration that cut across borders and link the countries of North and South America (including the Caribbean) together. On the other hand, they have contributed to profound asymmetries between different places. The nature of this transversally related and multiply interconnected hemispheric region can only be captured through a transnational, multidisciplinary and comprehensive approach. This handbook examines the direct and indirect political interventions, geopolitical imaginaries, inequalities, interlinked economic developments and the forms of appropriation of the vast natural resources in the Americas. Expert contributors give a comprehensive overview of the theories, practices and geographies that have shaped the economic dynamics of the region and their impact on both the political and natural landscape. This multidisciplinary approach will be of interest to a broad array of academic scholars and students in history, sociology, geography, economics and political science, as well as cultural, postcolonial, environmental and globalization studies. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Contributors Academic Advisory Board Acknowledgments General Introduction Inter-American key topics on political economy, geopolitics, and governance Historical thresholds in Inter-American entanglements Works Cited PART I: Political Economy in the Americas 1. Introduction: Political Economy in the Americas Inter-American approaches as a new lens within political economy Economic structures and capitalist dynamics beyond borders Overcoming methodological nationalism and Eurocentrism A political economy perspective – from a Marxist approach to a diverse field of study Decentering and engendering political economy The kind of concepts analyzed Works cited 2. Capitalism The origins of capitalism Capitalism and slavery Final discussion Works cited 3. Class Struggle The first popular struggles in the Americas Class struggle in the era of globalized capital Conclusion Works cited 4. Crisis Marx’s theory of economic crisis Financial crises Political crises From the Great Depression to the crisis of Fordism The rise of neoliberalism as a crisis response From the ISI model to neoliberal restructuring in Latin America The global financial crisis of 2007–2008 in the Americas Works cited 5. Deindustrialization Deindustrialization and the Global North Deindustrialization as global history? Works cited 6. Development Post-war development disputes in Inter-American relations Development as modernization Development as dependency Structural adjustment instead of development: a Washington-based consensus for Latin America Contemporary developments in development thinking: innovations from the South Works cited 7. Energy The concept of energy and its origins from the perspective of political ecology Energy consumption and energy mix in the Americas Entangled unequal histories of energy flows: reconfigurations and struggles Transforming the dominant global energy regime? Works cited 8. Environmental Justice The emergence of the environmental justice movement Related forms of justice Inter-American connections between environmental justice debates and struggles Transnational networks of a global environmental justice movement? Conclusion Works cited 9. Extractivism The concept of extractivism and the Latin-American debate The Inter-American discussion Conclusion Works cited 10. Fordism Origins of Fordism Fordism and Americanism: the Northern – U.S.-centered perspective Peripheral Fordism in the south of the Americas Concluding remarks Works cited 11. Gender and Work Conceptual framework Labor force participation by gender Gender, race, age and nationality wage gaps Where do women and men work? Segregation of the labor force by gender and race Unemployment Sexual harassment Migration Conclusions Works cited 12. Global Commodity Chains Transforming and debating concepts Global value chain analyses in the Americas Case studies on GVCs in the Americas Conclusion Works cited 13. Informality Uneven capitalist development and urban poverty: the emergence of informality From unemployment and underemployment to informality: definitions and policy prescriptions From theoretical debate to statistical measurement The informal economy in the Americas Conclusion Works cited 14. Labor Representation The institutionalization of trade unions and labor rights Unionism in the Americas in a global economy Works cited 15. Land Appropriation and access to land as a key dimension in political economy Colonial and anticolonial struggles over land: the dispossession of indigenous communities from their land and the long way to establish their land rights The struggle for agrarian reforms in the 20th and 21st century and the gender asset land gap Land grabbing and current territorial struggles Works cited 16. Neoliberalism History of the concept Evolutions of neoliberalism Transformations of neoliberalism with an eye to the Americas Conclusion Works cited 17. Privatization The rationale of privatization – and its discontents Privatization in the Americas The oil industry: the last frontier of economic sovereignty? Conclusion Works cited 18. Regional Integration Regional integration after World War II Neoliberalism and open regionalism Divergent approaches after the left turn Perspectives Works cited 19. Remittances The “optimists”: remittances as a tool of bottom-up development finance “Critical” perspectives: do remittances sustain old and create new dependencies? Conclusion: conceptual and methodological challenges in research on remittances Works cited 20. Social Inequality Economic development and social inequality: from late 19th century to the Great Depression Leveling social inequality? – industrialization processes and new deals The neoliberal turn and rising inequalities Great recession, pink tide, and social polarization Conclusion Works cited 21. State Transformation State transformation in the Americas Outlook Works cited 22. Taxation The roles of taxation Taxation in the Americas Works cited 23. Transnational Corporations Historical backdrop, evolution of the term and efforts at regulation and control Theoretical debates and evolution Shifting empirical terrain of TNCs with globalization and neoliberalism/economic opening Conclusion Works cited PART II: Geopolitics and Governance in the Americas 24. Introduction: Geopolitics and Governance – Inter-American Spaces of Entanglement The global sphere of Inter-American entanglements The national sphere of Inter-American entanglements The biosphere of Inter-American entanglements Works cited 25. Authoritarianism Authoritarianism: a common historical frame for an Inter-American discussion Comparison: analysis of authoritarianism in different, separated contexts Traveling concepts and entangled authoritarianisms Final discussion Works cited 26. Borderlands The history of borderland research Approaches to define borderland(s) Conclusion Works cited 27. Citizenship Citizenship: nation-state perspectives Citizenship: global perspectives Coloniality of citizenship Citizenship: from institution to act Concluding remarks Works cited 28. Civil Society Intellectual origins of civil society – north and south Evolution of civil society in Latin America Civil society in the North America Conclusions: Civil society dialogues across the Americas Works cited 29. Clientelism Comparisons of clientelism Transferring meaning Entanglement Final discussion Works Cited 30. Climate Change International climate change governance Climate change governance and the Americas Entangled through climate change Works cited 31. Commons The commons in the western law and economic tradition The commons from indigenous and Afro-descendants perspectives in the Americas Final discussion: From “shared resources” to “shared territories” Works cited 32. Democracy Democracy in Latin America Democracy in Inter-American relations Conclusion Works cited 33. Disaster “Disaster” – A brief conceptual history Early modern comparison: indigenous “superstition” vs. colonial “science”? Modern differences and similarities, transfers, and entanglements Conclusion Works cited 34. Geopolitics New approaches: critical and radical geopolitics Geopolitics from the colonial conquest to the Cold War Contemporary geopolitical developments and debates in the Americas The importance of geopolitics as an analytical category Works cited 35. Human Rights Processes and mechanisms of human rights protection International law and human rights protection Intricacies of transnational human rights protection Final discussion: what lies ahead for the protection of human rights in the Americas? Works cited 36. Interventionism Territorial expansion of the U.S. and Canada Territorial expansion into South America Justification: concepts and doctrines Interventionism in the early 20th century Justification: concepts and doctrines Works cited 37. Military Is the U.S. an episodic hegemon? A declining hegemon? Military educational ties: Evidence of U.S. hegemony or decline? Conclusion Works cited 38. Nation State Welfare states Revolution vs. reform vs. repression: the Cold War era The neoliberal nation-state From “pink tide” and “change” to the right-wing backlash Works cited 39. Nature Etymological considerations and history of the concept within the geopolitics of knowledge Epistemological questions about “nature” and arguments for its domination and protection Continued Columbian exchange, coloniality, and pristine myths Transnational appropriations of resources Transnational dynamics of conservation Nature strikes back – “natural” disasters and climate change within the Anthropocene Discussion: Decolonizing nature? Works cited 40. Pan-Americanism Early conceptions of Pan-Americanism Pan-Americanism and U.S. economic imperialism Subsiding Pan-Americanism Increasing U.S. military and economic interventionism Works cited 41. Participation The participatory democracy agenda National experiences: political context, decentralization, and public policies Closing remarks Works cited 42. Political Communication Inter-American discussion and critical reflections Etymological considerations Final discussion Works cited 43. Populism Populism in the Americas Populism as a political logic Works cited 44. Revolution Of popular fronts and foquismo The subject of revolution and development Works cited 45. Security Transfer of knowledge on public security Entanglement of Inter-American security: Maras and terrorism Final words Works cited Index