Guide Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin Americas Soul

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The Battle for Latin America's Soul 3. Latin America has often been condemned to failure. In many countries—including Brazil, Chile and Mexico—democratic leaders are laying the foundations for faster economic growth and more inclusive politics, as well as tackling deep-rooted problems of poverty, inequality, and social injustice. Failure will increase the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants to the United States and Europe, jeopardize stability in a region rich in oil and other strategic commodities, and threaten some of the world's most majestic natural environments.

Hardcover , pages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Forgotten Continent , please sign up. Lists with This Book. Aug 01, Kevin P. Just read this book, sorta had to.

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A great history in the first few chapters, showing how the right and left have both betrayed democracy. However, he staunchly supports the Washington Consensus, arguing that everything that is good is due to the WC, anything bad had nothing to do with it. Here he loses the balance struck in the early chapters. You have to be looking through different glasses if you think that what Lula, Bacelet, Just read this book, sorta had to.

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You have to be looking through different glasses if you think that what Lula, Bacelet, Tabare and others is pure neoliberalism. A must read if you are in the field or about to travel extensively in the region, but don't swallow the whole pill Mar 10, Vicky Hunt rated it it was amazing Shelves: Michael Reid has not only done an excellent job of covering the Latin American world, but he has revised and expanded the work in The Audible is just the older edition. But, the Kindle is the update, and it has all the illustrations and charts, as well as more up-to-date information.

Reid looks at all the angles. He covers the instances of past US interventions in Latin America, good and bad. The book has the effect of offering a synopsis of the political and economic news over the past few centuries. Reid explores the seeds of Democracy, the Cold War, the Washington Consensus, the Commodity Boom, Reformers, and the many contributing factors to failed states and how they are struggling to rise today. It is not a simple book, but is information intense while retaining a high interest level. I could not determine a reason for the order of the book.

Here, it comes across like a series of essays, perhaps. It is recommendable for people who enjoy reading political type books, but not for those who expect a level of simplification or order.

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Jul 27, Eric added it. I'll submit the review I left on amazon. The original review can be found here: Written by one of the leading editors of Economist magazine, Michael Reid's Forgotten Continent exalts the relative triumph of the free market and democracy in Latin American.

His thesis follows that these successes Brazil, Colombia, Chile etc. Chavez's Venezuela and Morales' Bolivia. Further, Reid argues that contrar I'll submit the review I left on amazon.

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Further, Reid argues that contrary to popular opinion, most of Latin America's existing problems are combination of firstly historical factors linked to the continent's colonial past, and secondly the inability of its recent governments to manage their economies sufficiently. Rejecting that the United States has had much input into the direction of Latin America in recent years, he departs from the writings authors like Uruguay's Eduardo Galeano who remain deeply sceptical of capitalism. His interpretation is somewhat refreshing, but there are a number of issues with this book: On page hardback Reid even goes so far as to say, "[Colombia's] generals tenaciously resist submitting their officers accused of human rights abuses to civilian courts.

They argue, plausibly enough, that they are fighting an internal war - one on a scale that none of the dictatorships faced.

Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin America's Soul

Is the author really saying that the argument used to justify the barring of officers from being held accountable for human rights violations by the army is a plausible one?? If Reid indeed means this, then he is de facto admitting that he believes human rights violations by the army in Colombia are justifiable.

Perhaps he would do well to read some Human Rights Watch reports on this topic. Yet growing food efficiently is good for the environment; the idea that food should not be traded internationally is no more logical than opposition to 'manufacturing miles'. Indeed, GROWING food efficiently may be good for the environment, but Reid fails to mention that 'food miles' also include exports such as beef, poultry, pork and so on which contributes to environmental degredation.



His argument falls flat because on the previous page page he boasts that Brazil is one of the world's largest exporters of precisely these things! Reid cannot really believe what he is saying. For a book about Latin America, surprisingly few Latin American sources are cited in the bibliography. There are a few mostly journal articles But the majority of the sources used are English; produced in Europe or the United States. I do not understand why Reid has not drawn more material from Latin American academics themselves.

Further, Reid makes frequent reference to Samuel Huntington and the latter's more or less defunct 'clash of civilizations' theory. Whether he agrees with this idea or not is unclear, although he writes that Huntington believes Latin America to be a separate civilization. Reid's assertion runs contrary to the ample evidence that exists illustrating that the United States did play a significant role in the coup. These are the biggest issues I have with the book, although there are plenty more.

It's nicely written and easy to read, and the view is somewhat refreshing. But Reid's biases are clearly visible and do not consider this an especially reliable book. Feb 14, Adriaan Jansen rated it really liked it Shelves: I admit all this. But if it is true that soon there will be no middle way between the empire of democracy and the yoke of one man, ought we not try rather for the former than submit voluntarily for the latter? Forgotten Continent was first published in It is strange to see that now, 11 years later, many issues that seemed to haunt Latin America have now also manifested themselves in the United States and Europe ''The democratic will is vulgar; its laws, imperfect.

It is strange to see that now, 11 years later, many issues that seemed to haunt Latin America have now also manifested themselves in the United States and Europe. What were typical Latin American issues only a decade ago, are now global issues we also see in our own societies. Not all aspects of good old Latin American populism have appeared in western societies, but there are similarities. For instance, the first part of Michael Reid's definition: Also some of the causes of populism are familiar.

Reid mentions 4 of them: Nostalgia for a bygone era. Extreme inequalities of income and wealth. Wealth of natural resources. Thus many Latin Americans may be tempted to conclude that if they are poor while their country is rich, then someone else must be taking unfair advantage. Reid observes what was later also the main point of ''Why nations fail'': Hard work and effective institutions make countries wealthy, not natural resources. New politics of identity.

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For this and other reasons, inequality may endanger healthy democracy. Reid offers some lessons from the Latin American experience: Everybody should be equal before the law. This last remark, written before the financial crisis of , is directly applicable to Europe since In , the CIA planned and executed the overthrow of the democratically elected president of Guatemala, Jacobo Arbenz. This scandalous attempt at regime change by the United States was a disaster: Also, it served to radicalize many on the left, among them Che Guevara. So he inferred that the left should be prepared to fight US interference rather than try to avoid or neutralise it It was Guatemala which convinced him of the necessity for armed struggle and for taking the initiative against imperialism'' pag This was not the first, nor the last, time that American actions abroad led to radicalisation.

Undue influence of the rich. The undue influence of the rich and powerful poses a special challenge to democracy in egregiously unequal societies'' page The rise of the outsider.

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People without much political or governing experience are propelled to center stage. Their personal fame and distance from the usual ruling elites can trump any lack of experience or know-how. Al this makes Forgotten Continent a strangely relevant book, 10 years after it was first published. The subtitle, ''the battle for Latin America's soul'', refers to the threat that populism poses to the incipient and fragile democracies of Latin America. Reid, a journalist who works for The Economist, takes the side of those sometimes flawed democracies.

Reid's recipe for development is a mix of democracy and capitalism. He occasionally goes too far in this prescription: Key points of the Washington consensus according to Reid: Reform the role of the state, promote the role of the markets: To be fair, Reid does mention one important shortcoming of the Washington Consensus: Reid also gives several explanations for the frequent failures in economic development and the consolidation of democracy in Latin America, and rightly points out that the answer lies in an interplay between several of the following factors: In short, capitalism and foreigners are to blame for Latin American misfortunes.

The rise of the Asian Tigers and later China has largely disproved this theory.



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Unfortunately, dependency theory led to counterproductive attitudes: What has often been missing in Latin America is a political and economic system in which law, property rights and enforceable contracts underpin economic development. What matters is that decisions by the state should be predictable, something that has not always been the case in many Latin American countries.

The circumstances in which Latin America was colonised and became independent. Climate, Obstacles to transport. Finally, Reid argues that Asian countries managed to grow and develop in the second half of the 20th century because they designed their economies to be export-oriented. Latin America deliberately turned away from the world economy just as international trade began its long post-war boom'' page Again, this disproved the dependency theory.

Latin America's choice for protectionism and industrialisation as a substitute for imports resulted in corruption, weak industries and companies, and high prices for consumers. Forgotten Continent is a very dense book, that covers a lot of ground. Although written more than 10 years ago, even now in many of its observations are still relevant, and not only for Latin America. Feb 24, Maria rated it liked it Shelves: Introduction to Latin America, everything you should have learned in school, but didn't because we don't think that Latin America is as important as the rest of the world. Reid takes the average US Citizen thru the political and economical history of Latin America with an emphasis on the last 5 decades.

Why I picked up this book: It's on the US Army recommended reading list and I thought that I have a better grasp of Latin America than the average American thanks to 4 years of Spanish in school. W Introduction to Latin America, everything you should have learned in school, but didn't because we don't think that Latin America is as important as the rest of the world. Why I finished it: Reid was a reporter for the Economist, so he does focus on the economic side of development and its good and bad consequences. Donald Share Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin America's Soul. Yale University Press, Several themes permeate Michael Reid's intelligent and thoughtful overview of contemporary Latin American politics and economics.

First, Reid believes that Latin America is incorrectly viewed by outsiders as a region dominated by dictatorial politics and protectionist economics when in fact "for the first time in Latin America's history, genuine and durable mass democracies have emerged across much of the region. In both its breadth and depth, this process is new" p. Second, Reid argues, although Latin America has most often been studied as a problem that requires a solution, it has made enormous political, economic, and social strides in the last few decades.

Indeed, Reid is confident that Latin America has turned a decisive corner, and that its future is more bright than bleak. Reid is editor of the Americas section of The Economist , and is a veteran journalist with extensive first-hand knowledge of Latin America. His work is unabashedly pro-free market in its analysis of Latin America's economic challenges. He argues that Latin America's economic potential was historically stunted by an overreliance on statism, and he is encouraged by the widespread adoption of market-friendly economic policies in Latin America.

But Reid is not a dogmatic economic liberal, and his analysis is best described as social democratic. He favors a Latin American state that is more open to free trade and that owns less of, and intervenes less in, the economy, but that taxes and redistributes more of the national wealth. Reid rejects deterministic approaches that have been used to explain the relative underdevelopment of much of Latin America, stating that "rather than being culturally or externally determined, it is more fruitful to see Latin American history as a contest, between modernizers and reactionaries, between democrats and authoritarians, between the privileged and the excluded" p.

Reid is often fiercely critical of U. He correctly identifies the U.