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- Convenor:
-
Rosie Doyle
(School of Advanced Study, London/ University of Bristol)
- Location:
- Malet 253
- Start time:
- 4 April, 2014 at
Time zone: Europe/London
- Session slots:
- 2
Short Abstract:
The panel analyses Latin America's relationship with liberalism and democracy and discusses the ways in which they have been understood as ideals and in practice.
Long Abstract:
When Latin American states emerged in the early nineteenth-century, the political philosophies, forms of government and political organization promoted by political elites and social actors involved some form of political and economic liberalism. Since independence, liberalism, whether applied successfully or not and usually in competition with a number of alternatives, has continuously been a referent for political and social actors in Latin America. Since the latter part of the twentieth-century neoliberal economic reforms have been embraced in some countries and rejected elsewhere. While political and economic liberalisms continue to be contested in what some describe as a post neoliberal era, liberalism remains part of the political culture. During the twentieth century the language of liberalism was, arguably, gradually replaced by democracy, seen as a marker of legitimate government. Democracy became an aspiration for Latin American governments. Although many governments in the region are perceived to be undemocratic, recent processes of change and civil-society organization are of interest to students of democracy.
With regard to Latin America's relationship with democracy and liberalism;
How have liberalism and democracy been understood and held up as ideals in different ways by various actors?
In what circumstances have democracy and/ or liberalism fallen from grace? In what circumstances have they flourished?
When did democracy come to be perceived as positive?
What liberal philosophies have underpinned various regimes and political movements?
Which features of government and social organization have been recognized as contributing to the existence of healthy democratic and/ or liberal institutions?
Accepted papers:
Session 1Nicola Miller (UCL)
Paper short abstract:
My paper explores how different interpretations of political economy in different Latin American countries affected policy debates and even outcomes. The topic offers a window onto the variable relationship between political and economic liberalisms as they developed during the nineteenth century.
Paper long abstract:
Political economy was not introduced into Latin America's main educational institutions as a discipline until the mid-nineteenth century, but terms and ideas drawn from it featured prominently in public debates as soon as the possibility of independence arose. This paper aims to chart the development of this crucial element of nation-building knowledge in Latin America, identifying which ideas and approaches were significant, by whom they were disseminated, and how far they circulated through the national territories. The work of prominent political and intellectual figures is bound to be part of the story, but I will also explore the contributions of less famous exponents of political economy, such as the Frenchman Courcelle-Seneuil, who was invited by the Chilean government to establish the subject at the Instituto Nacional. While based in Chile during the 1850s he also wrote a widely read book comparing tariff policy in Chile with that of France, Britain and the United States. Thus not only was political economy important to Latin American nation-building, but the experiences of the new Latin American countries could serve as a touchstone for confirming or refuting theoretical claims. The main purpose of the paper will be to explore how different interpretations of political economy in different Latin American countries may have affected policy debates and even outcomes. The topic offers a window onto the relationship between political and economic liberalisms as they developed during the nineteenth century, particularly the variations across Latin America.
Eduardo Posada Carbo (Oxford University)
Paper short abstract:
This paper will explore how Florentino Gonzalez, a Colombian political thinker during the mid-nineteenth century, approached the concepts of liberalism and democracy in his various writings.
Paper long abstract:
Florentino Gonzalez was a leading political thinker in Colombia particularly during the mid-nineteenth century. As a Minister of Finance he liberalised the tobacco trade, setting the bases for the first period of the country's economic growth after independence. He wrote extensively - his treaty of public administration was published in 1841, and as an editor of El Neogranadino he contributed to the public opinion debate. He also translated key authors such as John Stuart Mill. This paper will explore how Gonzalez approached the concepts of democracy and liberalism in his various writings and the extent to which he engaged with the debates of his times around these concepts.
Rosie Doyle (School of Advanced Study, London/ University of Bristol)
Paper short abstract:
What did nineteenth-century Mexicans understand by republicanism and federalism that they held up as ideals? Why did they consider democracy with caution? This paper analyses how attitudes to and understandings of these political concepts changed over time and according to region.
Paper long abstract:
Recent historiography of early independent Mexico suggests that all the actors in the political class until mid-century were liberals. However liberalism was not a term that was frequently used to describe the many political projects forwarded during the first decades after independence. Ideal forms of government were forwarded in the myriad constitutional proposals, political tracts and petition-like documents or plans that accompanied the frequent armed rebellions or 'controlled revolutions' known as pronunciamientos. In these documents republicanism and federalism particularly became political ideals and the basic principles of the constitutions that, in the first decades at least, the Mexican political class believed would help solve the problems and relieve the political strife of their troubled country. The term democracy was referred to much less frequently and not until the late 1830s. Democracy was much less an ideal and was viewed either as a form of government that would exacerbate social unrest and economic problems or one for which the Mexican people were ill-prepared. This paper explores what nineteenth-century Mexicans understood by republicanism and federalism that they held up as ideals and why they considered democracy and democratic government with caution. It analyses how attitudes to and understandings of these political concepts changed over time and how they varied according to region and locality.
Natalia Sobrevilla Perea (University of Kent)
Paper short abstract:
There have been very few studies of the Peruvian Congress in the nineteenth-century, a place where liberalism and democracy fought to establish themselves vis-a-vis the generals who controlled the executive.
Paper long abstract:
The study of the Peruvian Congress between 1823 and 1860 will provide a place to think about the possibilities for the development of democracy in a country where the executive was controlled by the men who had fought for independence.
By focusing on a posopographical study of its members, their political inclinations and the ways in which they were elected, as well as how they acted once in Congress, this study will shed light on the development of both liberalism and democracy in Latin America.
Juan Mario Diaz (University of Roehampton)
Paper short abstract:
This paper looks at Liberalism's achievements and contradictions and analyses its political struggle as one of the ideological sources of violence in nineteenth-century Colombia.
Paper long abstract:
In different ways, Colombian political elites after Independence in 1819, imagined the nation as another New World, a place in which to build a new society. However, reality proved to work against the idealism of the post-independence generation. Thus the social, political and economic contradictions in Colombia during the nineteenth-century (and part of the twentieth-century), can be seen nowhere more clearly than in the struggle of the liberals against tradition and the conservatives during the liberal governments between 1849 and 1885. Indeed, the contradictions of the political landscape were the contradictions of the political parties.This paper looks at the relationship between political ideologies, society and the economy during this period that was marked by the rise and fall of liberal rule. It analyses the role violence played as a social means for political ends.
Oscar Anchorena (Autonomous University of Madrid)
Paper short abstract:
This paper analyses the relation between liberalism and democracy by studying political action and propaganda developed by the Partido Revolucionario Cubano and the Partido Autonomista Cubano.
Paper long abstract:
The Cuban process of independence from Spanish domination could be defined as lasting from 1868 to 1898. Two major political and social groups played a central role during this thirty-year-period: the independents and the autonomists. Democracy and Republicanism were particularly important to the Cuban Revolutionary Party lead by José Martí.
This paper analyses what liberal and democratic philosophies underpinned these political movements and explores their external influences, focusing particularly on Spanish republicanism. Another aim is to study the ideological differences within these two groups and between them, through a consideration of their revolutionary activities and propaganda: political conferences and debates, newspapers, public meetings, etc.
These political actors of the Cuban revolution were, it will be argued, avant-garde democratic forces and their struggle should be understood as a process of civic and democratic education of the Cuban population. By the beginning of the twentieth- century, democracy would have become more important than liberalism among Cuban population.
Eduardo Dullo (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS))
Paper short abstract:
The paper aims to present the Brazilian situation in the first half of the twentieth century and discuss how some intellectuals promoted reforms in order to "democratize" access to the education system through the creation of public, secular, free and mandatory schools.
Paper long abstract:
The paper aims to present the Brazilian situation in the first half of the twentieth century and discuss how some intellectuals, known for their liberal positions, promoted reforms in order to "democratize" access to the education system through the creation of public, secular, free and mandatory schools. Having as a parameter the "Reforma Fernando de Azevedo", implemented in the Federal District in 1927, many other intellectuals sought to reform the local educational system, designing a system of public schools for a growing urban population. I will discuss this paradigmatic case drawing on archival research, and explore the concepts of "democracy" and "liberalism" presented in the books of Fernando de Azevedo primarily the "Manifesto dos Pioneiros da Educação Nova" (1932).
David Powell (University of Sheffield)
Paper short abstract:
This paper will look at key works by Vargas Llosa to examine how his apparent transformation from socialist to neoliberal has been underpinned by his consistency regarding both democracy and political and individual freedom, which reveals an underlying liberalism throughout his political evolution.
Paper long abstract:
Whilst he is undoubtedly better known for his works of fiction the Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa has also written consistently about political matters, a political involvement which culminated in his running (unsuccessfully) for the presidency of Peru in 1990. Throughout this campaign, which was run on a neoliberal ticket, Vargas Llosa promoted the free market economy. Despite his defeat in the election to Alberto Fujimori, Vargas Llosa has continued to support neoliberal policies, and has underpinned his political philosophy with a committed opposition to both nationalism and dictatorships. While Vargas Llosa's position as a neoliberal is unequivocal, his earlier labelling as a socialist is more ambiguous. Although he was a supporter of the Cuban Revolution, Vargas Llosa remained committed to democracy and the liberal ideals of political and individual freedom.
This paper will look at specific examples of Vargas Llosa's non-fiction work, in particular two key speeches: 'La literatura es fuego', given in 1967 upon being awarded the Rómulo Gallegos Prize, and 'Elogio de la lectura y la ficción,' given in 2010 on receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature for that year. In examining these speeches this paper will show both how the novelist's left-leaning stance was underpinned by inherently liberal ideology, and also how the origins of some of the Right-wing ideals which form the basis of Vargas Llosa's current political thinking can be traced back to what popular belief holds to be the left-wing period of his political evolution.