Globalization as a “simulation” of development: beyond the Washington Consensus in Latin America

Abstract

This chapter analyses the arrival and consolidation of neoliberalism in Latin America, as well as the struggles, resistance and alternatives to this model that brewed in the region. It discusses the origins and features that separate neoliberalism from other models. The chapter analyses the neoliberal experiment in the continent and the advancement of this model in the global setting and its subsequent consolidation. Liberalism is a controversial and multidimensional concept that can be used to describe heterogeneous phenomena like economic policy reforms, development models, ideologies or political rationalities. The rupture of the democratic social order in Chile signified the end of rights and liberties, as well as a heavy repression of the leftist movements and, in general, of those who opposed the regime. Repression encompassed numerous violations of human rights, forced disappearances, torture and murder. The Trilateral Commission played a key role, both in Latin America and globally, in consolidating the neoliberal agenda.