Neoliberalism has been a central theme that we have examined throughout our course.
This term has been brought up throughout many of the readings both about Bolivia and Columbia.We have discussed how neoliberal ideologies promoted the privatization of services (water, gas, etc.) in Bolivia in the 1960’s and 70’s. The essay by McNeish, “Extraction, Protest and Indigeneity in Bolivia: The TIPNIS Effect” discusses a modern effort in Bolivia to “forge together a new socialist alternative to neoliberalism through the ALBA (McNeish, 222). The article discusses the influence of the neoliberal era in Bolivia on modern day politics and policies. In order to properly understand criticisms to this capitalist notion of progress we must understand what neoliberalism ideology promotes and how it functioned in Latin America.
Further, it is important to understand neoliberalism and its effects on land conflicts and reform in Bolivia and elsewhere in Latin America. Neoliberal ideals spurred many land reforms with the goals of pursuing a profitable extractive economy. In Yashar’s article “Contesting Citizenship,” she discusses how Latin American indigenous communities commonly voiced opposition to state reforms that had neoliberalism as the “symbolic target” (Yashar, 36). In addition, she discusses how neoliberalism “has become synonymous with the culpable state and has enabled indigenous movements to target the state for retribution, justice, and guarantees” (Yashar, 36).
In summary, we should define neoliberalism to understand its influence on the history of political and economic state goals in Latin America throughout the 1900’s. Neoliberalism could operate also as a theme and so it should be up for debate whether to define neoliberalism as a key term or key theme in our syllabus.